


Incorporeal Nerd Alert

by TaraHarkon, Waywardwitchcat



Series: Incorporeal [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Character Turned Into a Ghost, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, F/M, First Time Blow Jobs, Ghosts, Implied Sexual Coercion, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Julia Burnsides Lives, M/M, Memory Alteration, Memory Magic, Murder, Necromancy, Past Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sort of. It's complicated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-14 05:05:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 81,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15381273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaraHarkon/pseuds/TaraHarkon, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waywardwitchcat/pseuds/Waywardwitchcat
Summary: There's a house outside town that no one goes near, it's angry and lonely perhaps full of fearModern Blupjeans ghost AU





	1. Chapter 1

  
It was one of those nights where Lup had too much unfocused energy fizzing under her skin. Taako went out for a boys’ night (“If ch’boy has to be seen with those chucklefucks, it might as well be where there’s booze.”) but she’d declined tagging along.  
  
She didn’t want to be around people, it wasn’t that sort of night. She wanted to yell and punch and do something stupid.   
  
So she got in her car and just drove out past city limits for an hour or so, following the line of the long, summer sunset.   
  
It’s a broken down fence that leads to an overgrown driveway that catches her eye in time to jerk her car down the road impulsively. A short jaunt down a dirt road and there’s a house, clearly abandoned, a faded ‘no trespassing’ sign fallen over by the porch. Lup switched off the engine, drumming her fingers along the steering wheel. An internal argument later, she’s grabbing her leather jacket off the passenger seat and making sure the battery for her keychain flashlight is fine.   
  
Stupid thing, here she goes.  
  


* * *

Inside the abandoned house at the end of the twisting, overgrown driveway, a shadow sat by a window with a book open just like he did every night. But it was a summer night and summer nights meant he had to be alert. Sometimes, teenagers still came here. Whether it was a dare, a drunken adventure, or just a stupid late night impulsive decision, teenagers had a tendency to show up and ignore the faded signs, the padlocks, and the long shredded police tape on the door. Tonight was one of those nights when Barry Bluejeans silently wished that people would just leave him alone to Rest In Peace or whatever.   
  


* * *

That was when he heard the car door slam and he froze, the book falling through his suddenly incorporeal form. It fell with a thump that echoed and he vanished from sight. Someone was coming. Someone was here.

Lup’s ears pricked up at the sound of a thump after she shut the car door. After a beat of nothing happening, she snorted and shook her head.   
  
“Haven’t even made it inside the spooky house and already hearing things? Get yourself to-fuckin-gether, Lu-Lu.”  
  
Not bothering to turn her light on just yet, she jogged up the path to the porch and walked slowly up it, testing each stair before putting her whole weight on it. A few creaked unnervingly, but they all held. Turning at the top of the porch, she scanned the yard and driveway. It’s a surprisingly nice view, the house is hidden from the road, but up on enough of a hill to be able to see it, woods to the left, sunset streaming across the sky to the right. Lup’s ears flick up again as an owl screeches and she sees its silhouette take off.   
  
Humming a bouncy tune, she turned to the door and her foot caught at something. Puzzled, she reached down and picked up a... book?   
  
“Huh.”  
  
It was an old astronomy textbook, still in good condition, and not at all creased like one might expect a book that had been laying facedown for a while… so someone had dropped it recently?

Barry winced as he saw her examining the astronomy book he'd been reading and floated backwards through the wall. Okay. It was okay. She was just one person with no cameras and no obvious flashlight. He could handle this. He just needed to spook her enough that she left before she actually saw him. That shouldn't be too hard, right?   
  
He moved to the door and focused on it, closing his eyes tight. It took a moment, it always did, but slowly the door knob started to turn and the door began to open with a creak. A length of police tape fell across the open door and Barry smiled. Maybe that would give her a hint to leave. He edged back into the shadows to wait. Not, of course, that she would be able to see him. Probably? He sure hoped not.  
Lup paged through the book, grinning a bit. Nerd shit and outdated, sure, but the occasional photos were spectacular and she ran a finger curiously over some of the equations and their explanations, working them out in her head as she went along.   
  
Then the door creaked open.  
  
Her head and ears shot up at the noise and she instinctively held the book like a shield in front of her face....and nothing further happened. A breeze made the ancient, faded police tape flutter.   
  
Huffing another laugh, Lup set the book back on the porch, and after a thought, pulled out her phone and took a picture. Maybe she’ll look for that one later, see if it’s still in print.   
  
Flicking her penlight on, she strode over to the door and pushed it all the way open, waving the light around the inside.   
  
“Yo, nerd book owner! You aren’t a ghost, right? You have to tell me, or its entrapment.”

Barry pulled back even further into the shadows. Shit. She had a camera and a flashlight. He'd completely forgotten about smartphones. They hadn't existed when he was still alive and he had a tendency to forget about new technology. Especially tiny computer things he really wished he could have had.   
  
He considered how to respond to her words for a long moment. Then he pulled himself tight and shot across the room towards the stairs. He walked up the stairs, letting them creak, letting her hear his footsteps. Maybe that would do it. If not, he could always get up to his room and hide under his bed.

Lup flicked her flashlight around to follow the noise. Even without it, there was enough dusky light filtering in to see there was no one actually _in the room_...  
  
“You got a good ambiance going, Casper, shoulda left a grimoire or something, instead of a geek thing. “  
  
She kept her tone flippant, but the unused energy that drove her out and kept her moving had settled into her spine, apprehension marching up to the back of her neck. Lup wanted a stupid adventure, but getting it was.... unsettling.   
  
She edged around the entrance hall into the living room, deliberately ignoring the stairs. Stupid yes, but not stupid enough to try the second story of a probably condemned building.   
  
“So what’s with the police tape, Casper? Do they not clean up after themselves or what?”

Barry flinched at that. He didn't really like addressing the fact that the tape was there. That it was still there, more accurately. It had been decades and he could still remember waking up on his living room floor and...  
  
Despite the fact that the electricity had been shut off years ago, the lights throughout the building began to light dully. It was like they were all on a dimmer and had only barely been turned on. Barry tensed where he was standing on the stairs and closed his eyes. He started counting slowly to ten. Calm yourself back down. Don't do the poltergeist routine again.  
  
It took a moment, but the lights went dark again.

The lights coming on made Lup jump and yelp, dropping her penlight. She stood there, frozen, ears and what feels like every hair of her body standing on end until they faded out again.   
  
Letting out a shaky laugh, she pushed her fingers through her hair and breathed until her heart rate dropped a little.   
  
“.....Kay, yeah, I don’t like it when people don’t pick up their shit when they leave either. “  
  
She bent down to pick up her light, not really wanting to trust to the various gray tones of darkvision.  
  
Now as she moved further into the house, the apprehension changed into a thrill. There’s some...one? Thing? Here. Either they had a fucking sweet prank set up or.... or something. Either way, she’s going to find out. The fizzing under her skin had been joined with one layered on top; plus one in the ‘or something’ category.  
  
The living room was a mess of ratty blankets, knocked over beer cans, and what looks like a smashed bong. Lup toed at it, curious. It used to be nice blown glass, not cheap for sure. The whole scene would look like trash from lazy squatters, if there wasn’t a sense of... it being left in a hell of a hurry. Turning, she shone her light over the wall opposite the camp.

There was some old graffiti covering the wall, a mixture of tags and the starts of real art that had never been finished. Behind that was simple striped wallpaper that was peeling badly. A wooden bookshelf leaned against one wall, most of the books on it yellow and aged. It was a mix of textbooks and sci-fi novels and a dog-eared fantasy trilogy. One of the shelves had fallen completely and there were blank spots on the shelves that suggest some of the books were completely missing.   


Well, it wasn’t threatening phrases written in dripping blood, so that’s fine. Lup ran her hand over the spines of a few books, before pulling out one of the sci-fi novels.   
  
“Holy shit, Casper, you do have good taste....”

Barry moved a little down the stairs, watching her nervously. She was still here. Why was she still here? He crept down the stairs and into the kitchen. He didn't want to hurt her, just scare her. But... maybe a knife? He could just drop it somewhere weird. Of course, most of the other people who had come here had stolen the good, big knives. At least the ones the police hadn't taken. So, he grabbed a butter knife out of the open drawer and carefully chucked it into the living room. It skittered across the ground landing near her feet. There. That was threatening, right?  
  
The clatter made her jump again, freezing as she stared down at a- a... yup, a butter knife. Lup covered her mouth to hold in the (probably hysterical) giggles and failed utterly. She leaned against the bookshelf and cackled at the ABSURDITY of it.

Okay, that wasn’t exactly the screaming terror he’d been going for. Also, she was still calling him Casper. He was going for something a little less 'the Friendly Ghost' and a little more Stephen King. 

Barry leaned in the doorway to the kitchen, arms crossed over his chest in the very image of spectral annoyance. Then he realized she’d touched his books. Focusing on the one in her hand, he tried to tug it back onto the shelf. He was starting to panic again. The last time a bunch of college kids came up here, they’d used some of his books for kindling and he was not going to let that happen again.

Lup wheezed and wiped at the tears gathering in her eyes. 

“Shit, ok sorry, Casper, I didn’t mean to laugh at y-“  
  
There was a human man in the doorway and he didn’t have feet. There was just a gap where his knees start and empty air between him and the floor.  
  
“ _Jesusfuckingfantasychristonashitweasel-“_  
  
Lup did the only thing that made sense to her short-circuiting brain and chucked the book at his head.

Barry yelped, perfectly audible, and ducked. At the same time, he stopped the book. It hung in the air about three feet off the floor just in front of him. For a long moment, he looked at her. Then he adjusted his glasses and vanished from sight.

Well, that had gone about as badly as it could. Time for plan B. What the hell was plan B?

Lup stared at the place he had been for what felt like two eternities before her lungs reminded her she needed air to live. She gasped, then inhaled again. A third time.... and okay.

Okay.  
  
OkayOkayOkayOkayOkay-  
  
Ghost. Poltergeist? Which was it that could move things, she couldn’t remember. Looked like a human dude in his... shit, how did human ages work again?   
  
“....Hey Casper?”   
  
Lup bent over tentatively to pick up her penlight where she dropped it (again) and switched it off.   
  
“Still there, my dude?”

Barry chewed his lower lip nervously and let the book drop. She still wasn't scared. She had seen him and she wasn't scared. He silently moved closer so he was just a few feet away from her. He opened his mouth and closed it again. Time to try something a little more...wild. He didn't like doing this. Not in the slightest. He didn't want to be a monster, he just wanted to be left alone. Very slowly, he let himself appear. Just a middle-aged human man with messy brown hair and glasses with a white collared shirt and jeans. Then he looked right at her.

  
**_"Are you afraid?"_**

The walls seemed to lean in and echo his voice back three fold, the lights flare almost to bursting and dim again…

Lup waited a full beat before bursting in laughter again.   
  
“NO??“

Barry vanished from sight again, really not sure what to do. That usually worked.

He moved back to the stairs and watched her now, trying to figure this out. She clearly wasn't afraid of any of his normal tricks and he didn't want to let go and go full poltergeist. That just ended up with people hurt. She hadn't done anything that deserved being hurt yet. After a long moment, he decided to at least try and get her to stop calling him Casper. He went over to the book on the floor and flipped it open to the first page where his name was written in his messy handwriting. Barry Bluejeans, 1968.

Lup was faster to pull herself together this time, especially as the dude went invisible again. 

“Aw, hey wait- no, come on! I’m sorry, dude, come back out....”   
  
The sound of pages turning got her attention, and she walked over to the book and traced the name written there.   
  
“Bluejeans? Seriously? Alright, well you get a pass on your ghost costume for this, I guess....”   
  
Lup reached out to pick up the book, hesitated, and brought out her phone to take a picture instead. She doubted she would forget that name, but you never know.  
Standing up, she glanced around into all the corners of the room.   
  
“Look, I’m not here to start any shit, I was just bored. You have a great library here, you know?”

Barry couldn't help himself, he smiled at that. He didn't make himself visible, but he did speak quietly.

_"It's not a costume."_  
  
His voice was amused but it still echoed, a bare whisper that carried through the room. He sat on the bottom step and slowly made himself visible again.  
  
"Why can't I...? Why aren't you scared? Everyone else runs by now."

Lup shivered a little at the quality of his voice, but the humor in it sounded.... nice. She watched, interested as Barry slowly faded into view again. He had a good face, she decided, with laugh lines tucked into the corners of his eyes and mouth. 

His question made her grin, “You threw a butter knife at me, babe, and it didn’t even hit. You gotta manage something a LITTLE more threatening. Like sticking it into the wall next to my head! Super spooky.”

_ "Do you have... Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a... a butter knife to stick in the wall?" _

“Well duh, that’s why it’s a threat.”  
  
Barry smiled slowly and looked down at where his feet should be.  
  
_"Will you leave if I uh... if I'm boring instead? Because I could go back to reading..."_

Lup plopped down on the floor and picked up the book, paging through it carefully.   
  
“Nope, sorry, no can do, Casper. You’ve got a first edition Andre Norton book here, and I’m afraid I just.... can’t..... move...........until I’ve finished it.”

Frowning slightly, Barry faded from sight again. That could be hours, given how long Plague Ship was... 

_"That's the second one in the series, you know."_  
  
He floated over to the shelf, looking it over. He used to have the first one but he wasn't sure anymore. Then he stopped. Why was he helping? He wanted her to leave. He turned then, still invisible, and focused on the butter knife again.

Lup watched Barry fade with interest. 

“Yeah, I have the first one, been looking for a new copy of this for fucking ages. Hey so, do you have a time limit on how long you’re visible, or-“  
  
She choked to a stop as the butter knife lifted it off the ground and spun it so it was pointed it the wall before launching it forward as hard as Barry could make it; which meant it bounced harmlessly off the plaster and skittered across the floor a second time. Only by clapping a hand across her mouth does Lup manage to NOT burst into a third round of laughing. Too bad the loud snorting is not contained.

__"Dammit."  
  
Barry reappeared near the front door looking irritated. He was starting to glow slightly with a red aura that flickers and changes, almost like small lightnings playing over his skin. For just a moment, there's a dark red patch on the front of his shirt that seems to spread slowly from the center out like water poured into a dish. His eyes, normally a pale blue, turn completely black behind his glasses.  
  
**_"Can't you at least pretend to be afraid?"_**

Lup stopped laughing abruptly, her eyes going wide and her ears pinning back briefly. She watched the aura with increasing curiosity, only looking back at Barry’s face when he did the voice thing again. The walls seeming to press close is unnerving, but... he doesn’t seem violent. If he is, he’s really, really bad at it.

“What for?”

For a long moment, Barry just stared at her with his unnerving pure black eyes while the lightning played over his skin. The stain spreading across his shirt dripped onto the bare wood floor. Drip... drip... drip... Then, he sighed and vanished, reappearing on the stairs the way he had been before. He adjusted his glasses and looked at her curiously. The scattered drops of blood on the floor were gone as well.

_ "I...I don't know? To make me feel better? I have to scare people out of here all the time and... and if I can't anymore..." _

“I mean, you were doing pretty well up to the knife. Lots of creaky boards, unexplained noises, spooky atmo, good stuff.” 

Lup pulled her legs in to sit cross-legged, visibly making herself more comfortable.   
  
“But first off, I’m not some drunk teenager; though quick sidebar, your whole red lightning thing? Would look super baller if I was tripping on acid. Two; it’s pretty hard to be scared when the other person pretty obviously doesn’t wanna hurt me, like, that’s pretty necessary to the whole pulling on horror movie tropes. And C-“  
  
She laced her fingers together into a cup shape, concentrating hard. It could be difficult to control shit when her skin started fizzing like it had been tonight, but dammit, this had to WORK.   
Taking in a breath, she let out a sound that was half word, half musical note, and a light flared between her hands. It ballooned up and expanded outward in a soundless explosion that left Lup blinking, her vision gone completely.   
  
“....Fuck.”

Barry scrambled backwards, completely forgetting that he was already dead. He tugged at the book with his power as well, sending it shooting across the room, clear of the explosion just in case. He had no idea what she was doing or how it worked or anything like that. 

_"Holy shit! Are you okay?"_  
  
He floated a little closer, uncertain.   
  
_"What uh... what was that?"_

“No, yup! Just..... fuuuUUUckin’ peachy keen here.” 

Lup rubbed at her eyes with the heels of her palms and blinked in the direction Barry had last been. Tiny little dots kept repeating the explosion in front of her eyes, but at least she could see shapes, sort of.   
  
“So that was SUPPOSED to be a witch light, like a little.... light bubble. Thing. Cause I can do magicky stuff, and most times it even fuckin works.” She blinked more, the spots were clearing up sort of. “That’s what I get for not bothering with a circle, I guess.”

His eyes widened with excitement and he floated even closer.

_"You uh... you can do magic? I've read some...some books about that but uh... I... I can't. Well. Couldn't. But uh... my coworkers lent me some uh... really cool journal articles about the uh... the advances in physics that experimenting with, uh, with transmutation got-."_  
  
Then he stopped again. What was he doing? She was alive and she shouldn't be here and here he was, geeking out at her.

She grinned in the approximate direction of movement, still blinking.

“Yeah, it’s kickass. Me and my bro got hella scholarship money off it, and a whole grant to study with a team.”  
  
She rubbed her face as the rest of the bouncing lights faded.   
“Results may vary.”

_ "It uh... it sure looks that way. The mixed results, I mean." _

He paused, looking at her quizzically.  
  
_"Are you sure you're okay?"_

"Yeah, just messed up my darkvision, it's cool."  
  
She shook her head and blinked once again. Cool, everything was a little blurry, but she could live with it.   
  
"So like, a ghost? One that isn’t like… all anger and barely a person anymore? And you got sweet powers out of it? You can't bore me out of this, babe. I’ve been _around_ and me n my bro never met an actual honest ghost before. 

_ "Okay, I guess... I guess that's probably fair. If I was still in college...and alive, this would uh... probably be the most exciting thing that had... That I'd ever seen." _

He sat on the floor with a grunt, which was a bit odd to see since he was still only visible from the knees up. He seemed a little nervous now that he wasn't trying to scare her away.  
  
_"So... are you uh... are you sticking around then?"_

Lup glanced at her phone and frowned; it was getting late.

"I mean, I'm deffo not sleeping here, but I'm coming back to take notes, you best believe."  
  
Her phone buzzed and Taako's named popped up on the display:  
  
Buttmunch  
_luuuuuuuuuuuuuup, theres NO hot dudes here and magnus beat like four guys at arm wresltn already and im dyin y rnt u here???_

_ "Oh... Yeah, that uh... That makes sense." _

Barry looked at the phone curiously. He didn't know all that much about them. He could, like many other electronic things, feel the energy in it. Poking at that, he tried to see if he could figure out how the device worked. Instead? Instead, he drained the battery.

_Sounds like all sorts of reasons why I'm having a way better night than you, Ko. Hey guess what: found a ghost that can talk and shit._  

Just as she hit send, her phone screen popped up with a 'battery low, battery saver mode?' before winking out into darkness.   
Lup stared at it blankly before turning her head slowly in Barry's direction.

Barry rubbed the back of his neck, looking distinctly guilty. One of the pictures on the wall rattled and fell and he winced a little.

_"Sorry... I uh... I was trying to figure out how it worked and uh... I can sort of feel electricity? And uh... and sometimes I can work with it. Mostly I make the TV upstairs show static. But I was hoping maybe I could... You know, figure out your phone?"_  
  
It was hard to tell if he was blushing, incorporeal as he was, but he did look distinctly pinker in the cheeks than before.

Lup's fingers twitched, she doesn't have pen or paper where's Lucretia when you need her she can't fucking write this down.

"So, if I brought in a bunch of electrical equipment....you cooooould probably fuck with it?"  
  
She glanced down at her phone again.  
  
"Do you show up on pictures?"

_ "Probably and uh... I don't know? I usually... I try to avoid it? Um... I don't really... I don't want people to know that I'm here. Sort of like... This is my house, you know? And I lived here and I... I died here and I kind of just want to stay and not bother anybody and not have anybody bother me." _

He paused then, seeming a little uncertain now.  
  
_"Not uh... that you're bothering me. I mean, you were. But you seem okay and like... like you're not gonna trash the place or anything. So... I guess I don't mind if you come back. But... I mostly just don't want other people to come here looking for ghosts."_ Then he added, in a quieter tone. _"They have before and it's not...great?"_

"Yeah, that tracks, alright, so bringing you a kindle is probably out of the question."

Lup taps her phone against her lip as she looks around the derelict house.  
  
"Do you know who owns this place now?"

_ "Uh... no one, as far as I know. I mean, the police sort of uh... boarded the whole place off when the case went cold and uh..." _

He trailed off and looked away. For a moment, he squeezed his eyes shut tight. If he'd been alive, if he needed to breathe, his breathing would have been coming hard and fast. Instead, the lightning was back playing over his skin and the red stain was spreading across his shirt slowly.

Lup leans forward, hands outstretched and reaching towards Barry but not quite coming within range of the lightning.

"Noshit, sorry, it's cool it's cool it's cool, I can look it up you're fine-wait you're not fine-Fuck. Hey, babe, look at me. See? We're all cool here."

The picture that had fallen before flew across the room as Barry's hands began to shake, but he was definitely hearing her. Very slowly, the lightning began to fade as he grounded himself listening to her voice. After a long moment, he opened his eyes again and looked at her.

_ "S-sorry. I... I didn't mean to uh... I... I didn't break anything, right?" _

Lup smiles at him, hands fluttering a bit uncertainly before attempting to rest on his shoulder.

"Nah Casper, it's all good. No bleeding from the walls or giant whirlwinds."

Her hand passed through him and he shivered uncomfortably before vanishing again. He reappeared on her other side. 

_"Can't uh... can't say I've pulled a bleeding walls routine in a long time. Not since the 80s, I think."_  
  
He was teasing again and it was hard to tell if he was serious.

Lup blinked at the sudden change in position, but managed an easy grin. No touching, o o o kay.

"Yeah, seems like it would stain, brings your property values down."  
  
There was an owl screech from outside the window and she was suddenly aware of how dark it had gotten. And her phone was dead and had Taako even gotten her last text?   
  
"Okay, I gotta leave, but it's cool if I come back right? Not, like, not with anyone else. Just me, I'm gonna bring some paper and....hey, do you want new books?"

He gave her a huge smile, looking truly happy.

_"I'd love new books. I've been reading the same stuff since uh... Never mind. Yeah, that'd be great. And... and you can obviously come back. I'm... I'm not gonna say no at this point. Just don't expect me to clean up. I can't exactly take the trash out."_  
  
Floating back to standing, he turned towards the door and it swung open.   
  
_"Don't worry about it uh... ever being dangerous. I don't let that sort of stuff stay nearby."_  
  
Lup stood, wincing as her legs started complaining about being in one position for too long, and taking a moment to make sure she wouldn't wobble when she headed to the door.  
  
"Awesome, that’s great, and there's like....decades of new books just waiting for you."

_ "That sounds amazing." _

He followed her and then stopped suddenly, looking sheepish.  
  
_"I forgot to ask. What's your name?"_

She gave him a grin, reaching out halfway to his shoulder before remembering and pulling back.

"I'm Lup, 'fraid my last name isn't nearly as, uh, descriptive as yours."  
  
Throwing a peace sign up, Lup jumped off the porch, skipping those creaky stairs, and sauntered down the overgrown path back to her car.

Barry stayed there in the doorway until he couldn't see the lights of her car anymore. Then he let the door close with a creak and went to try and tidy up the things he'd thrown today. He could at least manage that much, since those things were his and he knew them well. 

He kept losing track of what he was doing though, and looking towards the windows. It had been a long time since he had something to look forward to and Barry Bluejeans was finding that he liked that feeling.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scientific exploration

Lup drove home in a giddy haze, her mind going in circles over _a real ghost!_ Getting home was fun; Taako had gotten her text and no answers to his....numerous...replies, and was just about ready call Professor Davenport, or Lucretia, or maybe even the police by the time she pulled up. For some reason "I found a haunted house, the ghost's name is Barry Bluejeans, and he's a nerd." did not sate him.  
  
So she spilled the whole thing start to finish while staring at her phone and seeing if it actually would charge again. Thankfully for the sake of her wallet, it did, without any visible signs that something inside it was whack.   
  
It took her three days to find a time when she could ditch Taako long enough to get back to the house. It's not that she didn't WANT to introduce them, and she wanted to deal with Taako's dramatics over not being allowed to "meet a fucking ghost, lup, are you shitting me right now?" even less, but...Barry didn't seem entirely stable, and he hadn't talked to anyone in decades, if she read his uncomfortable avoidances right. Couldn't just spring Taako on him, of ALL people.   
  
This time she knocked on the door, it didn't seem polite to just walk right in when you knew a place was occupied.   
"Morning, Bluejeans, I come bearing gifts!"

 

The door swung open into the dark living room. Despite what he had said before about not being able to take the trash out, Barry had cleaned up some it seemed. Even if that was mostly just shoving everything that wasn’t his into the open hall closet. He hadn’t quite felt right having company over with empty beer bottles on the floor. The ghost in question was hovering invisibly by the door to the kitchen, but he slowly appeared as Lup walked in.  
  
_”I was starting to uh... to think you weren’t coming back.”_

 

Lup walked over to the bookshelves and swung a bag off her shoulders, flipping it open to reveal the spines of a dozen or so paperbacks. Glancing up at him as she unpacked them, she frowned,  
  
“Awww, babe, sorry, I had classes and then my brother kept wanting to come. Didn’t wanna bring him until you were cool with it and all.”   
  
She set the books on the floor in a neat spread, making it easy for Barry to read the covers without picking them up. He vanished and reappeared next to the bookshelf, already crouched to examine the books.   
  
_"These look real swell. Uh... I've never heard of most of the authors, but I guess that makes sense. Any...any suggestions for which one to try out first?"_

 

Lup tapped the cover of _So You Want To Be A Wizard?_ _  
_   
“A little on the nose, but it’s a fun read. Lots of drawing on the background science in magic, alternate universe stuff, the works.”

 

Fishing in the side pocket of her bag, Lup brought out a notebook, pen, ereader, and a power pack, which she piled next to her.

  
“Hey don’t try your spooky mojo on those just yet, I want to test some stuff.”

  
He turned slightly to look at her when she said 'test', looking paler than usual, and flickered slightly.   
  
_"What uh... what sort of test?"  
_   
He floated a bit closer, looking at the things she'd brought.   
  
_"I mean, I'm all for science but uh... I just... It's not going to hurt or anything, right?"  
_   
Barry’s question made her pause and frown as she brought out her phone.   
  
“What? No? How would-“   
  
She shook her head.

  
“Nah brosef, it’s just like my phone, only for reading, see?”   
  
Tapping the front, she brought up the library and tilted the ereader to show Barry the very long list there. Mostly textbooks names and a few were doubles of the paperbacks she’d brought.   
  
“If you can touch it without draining the battery, awesome. But if you do-“ a tap on the power pack. “I’ll charge it, no biggie.”

 

Barry leaned in curiously and then smiled.  
  
_"This is amazing. And... and all of those are books? In this... thing? Reading calculator? That... that sounded dumb. What's this called?"  
_   
He reached for it carefully, trying very hard not to drain the batteries. The screen flickered dangerously just before going dark and dropping through his hand.   
  
_"Shit! I'm... I'm sorry! I thought I had it."_

 

Lup picked it up and waved a hand at him soothingly.   
  
"Chill, my dude, it's fine. This is experimenting. This is an old one anyway, Nokia phone sturdy."   
  
Unfolding the charge cable, she plugged it in and after half a breath, an empty battery popped up on the screen.   
  
"See? It's cool."   


He watched the little battery icon starting to fill up.  
  
_"Nokia... phone? Don't they make like... toilet paper and uh... respirators?"  
_

 

"I mean, maybe? That's not what people know 'em for now though."

Pushing it to the side, Lup picked up the notebook and pencil and pinned Barry with a dangerous grin.  
  
"Now. You pulled the charge out of the battery. Where does it go?"

  
Adjusting his glasses, he looked back up at her at the question.   
_  
"That's uh... that's a really good question. I mean, I know that sometimes when I get upset, I drain things without evening touching them. And then uh... and then usually bad things happen?" _

 

  
Lup made a note to herself in the margin for looking up time frames later, asking a dude when he died seemed rude. His next words had her scribbling furiously.   
  
"Cool cool cool, bad things liiike what? Can you affect, like, your physical surroundings better?"

 

_”Better as in more, not as in... not as in more control.”  
_   
He sat opposite her, looking her notes over curiously. Then he smiled slowly.   
  
_”You know, the uh... the scientific method says you should have a... a hypothesis before you start experimenting.”  
_   
He was starting to warm up to this idea if she wasn’t going to be like those others that had come here. This would be fine and he wouldn’t have to resort to... Well, never mind that. He leaned in and adjusted his glasses again.   
  
_”And I don’t know how we’re going to measure anything.”_

 

“This is data gathering right now, don’t science-splain at me, babe.”   
  
Lup finishes her paragraph and taps her notebook.   
  
“I mean, if you let me bring my brother, or a couple of my research team mates we might be able to, uh, borrow some lab equipment. But that’s a later thing.”

 

_"Science-splain?"  
_   
Then his smile faded at the mention of a research team. For a long moment, he was quiet and still. A wind whipped through the room, ruffling papers and causing the pictures on the walls to clatter noisily. He vanished and reappeared standing on the stairs. He looked like he was trying to calm himself down again.   
  
_"I don't... Maybe? Not... not yet."  
_   
One of the pictures on the wall suddenly exploded outward, shattered shards of glass falling all over the room. The look on Barry's face was a mix of embarrassment and fear.   
  
_"S-sorry. I...I'm... I can't control it when I uh... I mean, I'm trying but there's only so much I can do."_

 

Lup was so focused on watching Barry’s face that the glass exploding startled her into yelping involuntarily. Blinking at the shards, she ran the conversation back through her head. The mention of research teams especially, Barry removed himself away from her, so follow her instinct to move closer to comfort him was probably? Not a great plan straight off.   
She leaned over her notebook and scribbled another note, then sent Barry a grin.   
  
“Hey, trauma and science have to mix carefully, we’re cool.”

 

_"Trauma?"  
_   
He considered for a moment and then sighed. He stared at the shards of glass, willing them to go back together and back in the frame. It was unnerving to watch as it reset itself based on his memory of what his home should be. Doing that also seemed to take something out of him and he flickered slightly, seeming a bit less distinct.   
  
_"Okay...yeah, that's probably... Yeah. There's probably some of that."_

 

Lup manages to tear her focus away from the frame fixing itself to scoff lightly. Scooping up _So You Want To Be A Wizard?_ she walks over and plops on the stair next to him.   
  
“Generally there’s very few ways to die that probably don’t leave trauma, we just don’t know how that works afterward.”   
  
Flipping the book open, she held it up so he could see the page.   
  
“Here, we can read through together, and I’ll explain the references you don’t get.”

 

_”I mean, the dying was pretty bad but uh... so is what comes after, honestly.”  
_   
After that cryptic remark, he sat beside her and started reading. He seemed a lot more relaxed like this, almost like a normal person. If you ignored the lack of corporeality and the space where his feet really should have been.

 

As ways to spend time, Lup would certainly admit this was one of the top ten. Reading silently with frequent interruptions turned into Lup reading out loud, with all the voices, and a long interruption when the idea of a space pen made for writing in space came around.   
  
She tried not to make it obvious when she was keeping track of any hints Barry would drop about his old life, his way of ‘living’ in his current one, and what he could do... and as the morning turned into afternoon, and they reached the end of the book, she found that she was making notes less about Barry’s state of being and more about himself.   
  
THAT brought up a train of thought she mentally squashed and threw out the metaphorical window.

 

The entire concept of space travel enthralled Barry and that, more than anything else, got him to really drop hints about his life. He talked excitedly about NASA, about the space race, about Sputnik, about the Apollo project, about watching the space walk on TV. But the one thing he didn't mention was the moon landing. It was like he didn't know it had happened.   
  
He lit up with excitement every time the story revealed some new hint of the world outside his house, outside of this time capsule of the moment that he died. When the book ended, he vanished and reappeared standing at the bottom of the stairs with a huge smile on his face.   
  
_"If uh... if you wanted to borrow some of my books. You can. Just... just be careful with them. They're sort of old."_

 

Lup felt a small flutter in her chest at the sight of him smiling so unabashedly, and fiercely tamped it down; Stop it.   
  
“Awesome. I’ll take just the one for now, seems safer.”   
  
Putting the book in her bag reminded her that she had actually brought food, and she was starving for it. Pulling the Tupperware out, she leaned against the wall and started in on the cold curry and rice.... more room temperature at this point but whatever.   
  
“Hey, can I take a picture of you and see if it works?”

 

_”You know, you uh... you don’t have to eat that cold. I can probably make the microwave work. It’s really a wonder, that little thing. Just heats food up like a dream.”  
_   
Barry started to float towards the kitchen and stopped, turning to look at her. He rubbed at the back of his neck.   
  
_”Uh... I mean, yeah. If... if you want to.”_

 

Lup swallowed her mouthful (and the inclination to call him adorable over geeking it about a microwave) and followed Barry into the kitchen. Getting out her phone, she held it out to frame both their faces.   
  
“Quick selfie for science!”   
  
She got a couple in a row. You never know which expression will be Best..   
  
Barry smiled shyly as she took pictures and he did show up in one of them. Though, it wasn't as he looked now. Instead, the photograph captured a red tinged specter soaked in blood and crackling with lightnings.   
  
_"Want me to try the microwave before we experiment on uh... on your lunch?"_

 

There was, in fact, a microwave sitting on the counter. It was an ancient looking thing, all space age and chrome with two dials on the front next to the door. It seemed to predate buttons or a digital display. It was dusty and old and clearly had NOT been used in a long time, which makes sense since this place had no electricity

 

Lup scrolled through the selection of her own smiling face alone before staring at the one with her smiling and the ghost of murders past lurking behind her.   
  
_-hey bro, check out my new filter_   
  
She looked up from texting Taako in time to catch Barry’s question and catch a look .   
  
“Holy shit, this is AMAZING.”   
  
Running her hands along the edges, she tried lifting it to check for a manufacturing date; 1967, written on a faded sticker on the bottom.   
  
“If it DOES work, I will be fucking amazed. We can’t get any of ours to last more than five years.”

  
  
_"Weird. They just must uh... must not make things like they used to."  
_   
He waited until she'd set it back down before focusing on it. The whole thing began to hum and the interior to glow brightly. It was louder than a modern microwave and seemed to be getting warm around it. Almost like microwaves in the 60s weren't shielded. Oops. Silly people who weren't afraid of atomic energy. He grinned then.   
  
_"Looks like I can do it, but probably not for long?"_

 

Lup’s ears twitch as several decades of consumer health studies flash through her brain, but she shrugs and puts her bowl in. Just.... won’t make a habit of it, that’s all.

 

Barry closed his eyes and focused on just providing power to the microwave. The hair along Lup’s skin started to stand on end as an unfamiliar fizzing rolled across her arms and towards the machine. It began to whir and hum, lighting up inside. The curry began to bubble as it heated up. Then the microwave suddenly stopped running and Barry vanished from sight. It seemed like he'd overdone.

 

Lup flinched slightly as Barry vanished, something in her brain shrieking about how that wasnt how the world should work , but she tentatively opened the microwave and pulled her bowl out. It was irregularly heated, but the fact it worked at all was impressive, so she stirred it around and waited for Barry to.... remanifest?   
  
“You okay there, Barry?”

 

_"Tired..."  
_   
His voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere and he was still nowhere to be seen. There was a sound like furniture creaking, like a weight had settled in one of the kitchen chairs.   
  
_"Real tired. Sorry..."_

 

Lup frowned and set her bowl on the table, but didn’t sit in case it would be.... on him? Through him?   
  
“Guess a kindle battery doesn’t make much of a snack, huh? Anything I can do?”

 

_"Usually this only happens when I uh... do big things? I just need to rest for a little bit. I'll be fine. Don't worry. It's not uh... not like I can die a second time, you know?"_

 

Not quite sure where to sit or look, Lup shrugs and wanders around the kitchen, eating absently. The appliances are old enough to dig up a sense of nostalgia, she and Taako hadn’t been able to afford anything like a proper kitchen when these were new.

The chair creaked again as Barry got up and went to lean against the counter. Not, of course, that he could be seen. But he figured maybe this way, she could have a seat if she wanted. Manners and all that. His mother had been strict about that kind of stuff.  
  
_"Did you have... other stuff you wanted to try? Experiments, I mean? Data collection?"_

 

Lup’s ear flicked as she tracked Barry’s movement out of the chair and to the counter. And wasn’t that weird? Well, weird-er. He was incorporeal to HER but the house reacted like he had weight and substance. Was that to do with the house? But he could still affect stuff brought in from the house...  
Wait, he asked a question.   
  
“Hmm?? Oh, uhhhhh, I’m collecting all the fucking time, babe. If you’re tired, I’m fine. “   
  
Dead or not, she didn’t want to push him too far.

 

_"I'm not too tired. And if I snag some uh... some more juice off another one of those things you brought, I'll probably even be good."  
_   
He laughed a little at that.   
_  
_ _"Either that, or I might head upstairs for a nap."_ He paused. _"Not that I actually sleep. I don't sleep. At all. That uh... that kinda sucks, you know? But I do like to go... lay down? And like... pretend? That probably sounds really weird, doesn't it?"_

 

“Not really, i mean, i’ve never been stuck in one place for fif-uh, a couple decades at a time. You do what works to keep from going nuts, right?”   
  
Lup walked back into the living room, dropping her half empty container in her bag, and grabbing the now fully charged ereader.   
  
“Hey, check first if you can just use it now you’re all tuckered out.”

 

Barry followed after her, his footsteps audible on the hardwood floor. He leaned in and reached for the device, trying to figure out how it worked. It took him a minute, but he managed to open a book. The battery was definitely draining faster than normal but not all in one fell swoop like before.  
_  
"This is amazing, you know that? It's like... it's like having the entire library right at your finger tips. And it's so small. It must be easy to share things now. I mean... you can just... what? Load things onto this and send it through the mail, right?" _

 

Lup choked and spluttered, trying very hard not to laugh. It was just so adorable... “Yeah, uh, totally. Totally through the physical mail. Is how it’s done. Absolutely.”

Barry frowned just slightly and it showed in his tone,  _"Are you uh... are you messing with me? Because that tone sounds like uh... like you're messing with me."_

 

Lup drew back and dramatically placed a hand on her chest as if deeply offended, “Me?? I have never been so _insulted_ , sir. You slander my good name!”   
  
She wasn’t much good at keeping a straight face, the corners of her mouth kept twitching up and she had to swallow several giggles.

 

Barry started laughing then and reappeared. He was right in front of her, a huge smile on his face. He schooled his features, trying to look serious and grave.  
  
_"My apologies, madam. I won't do it again. I'll implicitly trust your word on... on everything outside these four walls."  
_   
Then he snorted and started laughing again, doubled over with it.

 

Lup lasted a whole two seconds of Barry laughing before she cracked up completely. It was a very nice laugh, commented a traitor part of her; goofy, and he snorts a lot. 10/10, should make happen again.   
This part of her was summarily exiled for treason and Lup ignored it.   
  
“Ok but seriously,” she finally managed between giggles. “So you’ve seen a smart phone before mine, right? Got any clue how they work?”   
  


_"Not the slightest clue. I uh... I mean, I figured it was like a phone without... you know... a cord. If Nasa can radio a man in space, we can make a phone call without cords."_

 

Lup unlocked her phone, and held it out to him;   
  
( _Buttmunch_ _  
_ _-Lup, my dearest and favoritest beloved twin sister: what the fuck????????????_ )   
  
He scooted in closer to try and get a look at the screen   
  
_"Buttmunch?"_

 

“Oh that’s my brother,” she swiped that away and pulled up her browser to type into the search bar. “Ignore him, he’s gay so he likes unnecessary conflict.”

 

_"Why would... why would that make him like unnecessary conflict?"  
_   
Lup coughed loudly, “So yeah, this is a wireless phone, but it’s ALSO a mini computer connected to....uH, a reservoir of all the information, true or false, that people put into it. And lots of pictures of cats.”   
  
Holding up her phone, Lup showed him a google page for “free ebooks”.

  
He seemed confused for a second but he was entranced when she started showing him search page.

  
_"Oh wow. Oh wow, that's a lot of... Wait... Why would you put things in there that aren't true? I mean... if it's this giant repository of the sum of... of all the knowledge of civilization why would you want it to have things that aren't true? Shouldn't there be... be like... someone who's job it is to keep it true and useful and up to date?"  
  
_ Then his eyes went wide and he adjusted his glasses leaning in.   
  
_"Never mind. I changed my mind completely. It has free books! There can be as many lies as people want to tell as long as there are free books."_

Lup cackled and clicked a link.  
  
"It's less a library and more like....one of those big open air markets where people just bring whatever they want to sell and yell at passerbys all the dumb shit that pops into their heads."   
  
She scrolled through a list of titles and authors slowly, waiting for him to point at one.   
  
"So THAT ereader has a little bit of 3G, and you can look through places like these for free books and download them. It works better on a wifi network, but if you don't even have electricity thaaaat's gonna be an issue."

 

His eyes lit up and he pointed at the name Anne McCaffrey.   
  
_"I read a short story by her in Analog. She wrote more? And I can just get all of her books on here?"_

 

Lup snorted, "Gods, that woman couldn't stop. She had a funny idea what happened when people did anal, too."  
  
  
His smile was broad and infectious, like a kid in a candy store. He looked at her and his eyes widened just slightly. He hadn't realized how close he'd gotten to her in his excitement. With a little flutter of the air, he vanished again and reappeared a little bit away with a bright blush on his cheeks. Don't do this, Barry. You're dead. You know that. He adjusted his glasses nervously.   
  
_"What uh... what's a 3G?"_

  
His question brings her up short, and she opens and closes her mouth for a few seconds before shrugging.   
  
"It connects your phone to the internet. It works? Fuck if I know."

 

_"Until proven otherwise I'm going to assume that uh... that it's a really crazy radio that makes internet things happen."  
_   
"Seems legit."   


He reached over for the eReader and focused on just lifting it. Not using it, not draining the battery. Just picking it up. He managed to get it into his hands. Then he blinked a little.  
  
_"Wait, why would uh... why would it matter if there's wifi here? Isn't this yours? Aren't you going to uh... take it when you go home again?"_

  
Lup casually pulled the camera up on her phone and started recording him. For science, right?   
  
"Nah, it's a secondhand one, and it's full right now. I can leave the charger here and next time I come over I'll bring it home to fill it with anything you can find, sound good?"   
  
Her camera didn't LIKE focusing on Barry, but it made a few weak attempts at finding a face somewhere.

 

_"That... that's amazing. You're-"_ He started to say one thing and quickly changed his wording, _"You're really giving me this? I... I can't believe..."  
_   
The video wasn't coming in great and just like before, it was that horrible blood soaked and red tinged specter with black eyes that appeared in the image even though the man in front of her was smiling like she had given him the world.

 

Lup flicked her eyes between the screen and Barry's face briefly, grinning distractedly.  
  
"Hell yeah, my dude, way easier to store than physical books. Just don't get it wet or put it in your microwave and it'll probably survive most stuff."

 

_"I'll have you know, I was a scientist. I know perfectly well not to put the... the electronics in the microwave."_ He sounded indignant but he was still smiling at her and there was no bite to his words. He started to move towards the bookshelf and then seemed to reconsider,   
  
_"I'm going to put this up in my room. It's uh... it's probably safer. Less people go up there."_ Pause. _"If you wanted, you could go upstairs. I'm pretty sure it's safe and...and if it isn't... I mean... I won't let you get hurt if I can help it."_

 

“Cool.”   
Lup stopped the video recording and swore she could almost hear a sigh of relief from her phone. As she followed Barry to the staircase she finally started typing a reply to Taako;

  
_-hey remember when we tried filming that one spell with the hemlock base and Lucretia got sick watching the play back? I think we’re looking at something similar_

 

Barry headed up the stairs carefully, mindful of the device he was still holding in hands that really weren’t meant to hold things anymore. He stared at it the whole way up, barely paying attention to anything else. The staircase itself was lined with pictures. In one, he stood with a few other people all wearing lab coats with some kind of ID badge pinned to the front. He was younger than he seemed to be now, and smiling. In another, he was a teenage boy standing with an older woman with soft gray hair who had an arm around his shoulders and the same smile. In still another, he was wearing his graduation cap and gown and standing with a few of the people from the lab coat photo. They all held their diplomas up for the camera with huge smiles.  
  
_”It’s uh... it’s less messy up here. I think probably that... I mean, most people probably think the stairs aren’t safe. It doesn’t really look great, after all.”  
_   
He turned to the left and a door opened. Inside was a tidy bedroom, if a bit dusty. The bed stood against one wall next to a small nightstand with an old alarm clock. There was a desk and a small bookshelf. Honestly, it was fairly boring. The most character it had was the model Jupiter rocket sitting on the desk covered in dust.   
  
The rest of the hallway had three more doors, though one of them was probably just a closet.

 

Lup had turned her camera on again and moved it quietly from each picture to the next, making a note to see how Barry's voice sounded on the playback later. Rounding the banister, she took note of the doors before following Barry into his room. Her ears flicked straight up when she saw the rocket.   
  
"Aw dunk, that's awesome!"   
  
She flicked her phone in a wide arc before stopping the video setting her phone down next to the rocket.   
  
"I haven't seen one of these in a fucking age."

 

Barry set the eReader down on the nightstand and turned, smiling. He remembered getting that rocket when they first were assigned to the project. Sure, they weren't really working on rocket stuff. He was in a math division, after all. But it was tangentially rocket stuff. It was sitting on top of a dog-eared copy of From Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne, one that had clearly been read so many times that the spine had been taped to hold it together. He floated over next to her.  
  
_"Would uh... would you believe they gave us those at work? The rest of the team kept them on their desks."_ Then he frowned slightly, _"Wait, don't they still make rockets? I mean... the Jupiter C is the uh... the most powerful one out there. That's... I mean, the space race isn't over, is it?"_

 

Lup shrugged, still focused on the small details of the model. It was certainly well made, not being a toy, exactly. It was more precise than that, with every little detail accounted for.   
  
“I mean, sort of? There’s rockets and the space station, but if you want miniatures, you’re looking for some specialty shit. Most toy manufacturers don’t bother, they can get more money off making toys of, like, the Millennium Falcon or something from the Avengers.”

 

_"Okay... I know the Avengers. I've read those comics. They're uh... they're pretty new but uh... I always thought Wasp was pretty cool. But uh... what's that other thing? And what happened to the space race? Did we win? Did they win? Did anyone win?"_

 

Lup stared at him for a beat, then laughed once, a little disbelieving.   
  
“Shit, dude. Uh, YEAH. America made it to the fucking moon. And back again even. Half the human dudes are still around and kicking. And hey, Russia and America didn’t blow up the fucking world, so that’s even more of an achievement. “   
  
She waves her hands as if to encompass the whole world.   
  
“There’s an international space station orbiting the planet-Hey, didja know gnomes are actually super well adapted for space living? My boss was gonna- ....well, that’s some other story. Anyway, I guess everyone won that one.”

 

If she thought he had been excited before, it was nothing compared to now. Barry had an absolutely huge, boyish smile on his face.  
  
_"We....we did? We made it? And they really... and... and...and they made it back? And holy shit!"  
_   
The lights in the room flared on suddenly, getting brighter and brighter until the bulb in the lamp on the nightstand popped and went dark again. Barry didn't seem to notice, he was absolutely ecstatic.   
  
_"I bet the team was... Wow. I... I wish... I wish I could've seen it."_

 

His grin was infectious, and Lup couldn’t help smiling back. Even the lights flaring didn’t startle her all that much.   
  
“Yeah, it was pretty dope. They were playing it on tv everywhere, Ko and I saw it through this department window, there was a huge crowd and...”   
  
She paused, frowning, then grabbed her phone and flopped on the bed. Swiping Taako’s LONG paragraph of a text away, she fiddled with her phone for a few seconds before pulling up a video player.   
  
“Here, now you can. They were filming the whole fucking thing.”

 

Barry floated as close as he could, leaning in to look at the small screen. He was literally flickering in excitement, seeming to vibrate. He watched the whole thing in silence and then there was a sound like every single light bulb in the entire house flared brightly and then exploded at once. But upon further inspection, none of them actually had. There was no glass, no broken bulbs. Just the light and the sound. And Barry was still flickering with excitement.   
  
_"We did it. We actually did it."  
_   
His voice was low and he sounded positively awed. Then he let out a whoop of excitement and hugged her. And didn't pass through.

 

Lup had been keeping an eye on the screen, (it WAS exciting, and she remembered the intensity of standing on that sidewalk, clutching Taako’s hand) but mostly she watched Barry’s face out of the corner of her eye. A part of her kept a running tally of all the ways his emotions affected how he could interact with things, but mostly she was concentrating on Not Thinking about how cute his face looked when it was nothing but open wonder.   
The flare of the lights made her sit up straight from her position slouched over with her chin on her hand, and she was looking around, blinking dots away from her eyes when there was pressure around her arms.   
  
Barry’s hug wasn’t like a physical person’s: there was pressure, no warmth, and a fizzing of energy that made her skin tingle not unpleasantly. Giggling at his joy, she threw an arm over his shoulders and squeezed back. Dude hadn’t had any contact for fifty years, it was the kind thing to do, right?

 

Barry didn't notice at first that she was returning the hug. He was too enthralled by the idea of a man walking on the surface of another world. It was like every book he'd read as a kid, but it was real. It was everything they had ever hoped for.   
  
And then he noticed the pressure around his shoulders. Honestly? The hug felt good. And, gods, how long had it been? He didn't even know at this point. But at the same time. He couldn't do this. He couldn't. He vanished and reappeared closer to the door of his room.   
  
_"That... that was really... uh... the video, I mean. It was great. Amazing. I... uh..."  
_   
He was stumbling over his words more than before and blushing brightly while he stared at the floor.

 

The sudden absence of a semi solid thing to lean into throws Lup off balance, and she flails to the side, catching herself on her hands, and throwing a cloud of dust up into her face. She coughs and tries not to sneeze all through Barry’s stammering.   
Rubbing her face, she grins at him through her fingers.   
  
“It really was, wasn’t it? Next time I’ll bring you some shots of the earth from the space station, they’re awesome.”  She glanced at the screen of her phone and sighed in annoyance,  “I guess I should go, probably got to finish some responsible adult work today....”

 

Barry floated a little closer, a little worried as she started sneezing. Then he relaxed and nodded, _"Yeah, you uh... you probably should go before it uh... before it gets dark."_ He floated towards the stairs again, a little quiet now, _"I would like to see those pictures, if you brought them."_

 

“For sure, babe,” Lup replied, absently, as she typed out more reassurances to Taako. “Oh-“ She reached into her pocket and pulled out the power pack, “Should keep those together. It’s probably got another charge and a half or something? Unplug it when you aren’t charging and it’ll last longer.”   
  
She took her time going down the stairs, lingering as she looked over the pictures on the wall, dragged her feet packing up her bag, chatting about what things she could look up further for Barry, and lingered at the door, not quite all the way willing to leave.   
  
“Listen... it’ll probably be a few days before I can get out here again, and I might bring someone? But I swear he’ll be cool, it’s just my brother wants to meet you too.”

 

Barry followed, staying close. He watched the way her gaze lingered on the pictures and he wondered. He could always tell her more about his life, his friends, his job. Then he froze at her question.  
  
_"I uh... I guess so? I mean... I don't see a...a problem with... with that."  
_   
He seemed a little uncertain, a little nervous. Then he smiled. He would like to talk to more people. And her brother would be fine. Probably. Assuming that he didn't try to make Lup stop coming here. Barry didn't know what he would do if he was left alone again.   
  
He stopped on the stairs, looking at the old picture of him and his lab mates. In the photo, a pair of nearly identical elves flanked him, the man using Barry as an armrest as he grinned at the camera and the woman practically posing next to her brother. A very young human woman stood near the front hugging a lab notebook to her chest. They'd teased Maureen later that she was trying to cover the part of her badge that said Intern. There were a few other people in the picture, sure, but those three had been his friends. Shaking his head a little, he went the rest of the way down the stairs and followed Lup to the door.   
  
_"I'll see you then, I guess. And uh... and I'll let you know what I thought of the other books."_

 

Lup glanced at the photo, then gave it a second glance. Something about the human woman niggled at the back of her mind. Seemed like it was a day for sorting through older memories. She’d figure it out later.   
Flashing Barry the peace sign, Lup firmly made herself walk out the door and even used the steps. She did turn and wave when she reached the gate, and then.... was gone.

  
Once again, Barry watched Lup pull away down the driveway. Then he floated back over to the bookshelf and the neat row of paperbacks she'd left for him.   
  
_"Deep Wizardry, huh?"  
_   
He picked up the book carefully and floated upstairs to his bedroom. He put the book on the bed carefully and lay on his stomach to read.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are some books which certainly make it across the multiverse


	3. Chapter 3

It was another several days before Lup could make the drive out, but they were busy ones. Taako’s annoyance at her ditching him without even a note was shoved to the side in favor of looking over her research notes, and her videos were enough to bring to their research crew for several hours of intense discussion over exactly what the fuck?    
What the fuck actually was, was not quite decided on, but Lup DID learn that the house itself was something of a local legend. The owner had been brutally murdered with no suspects, the case never solved, and with no heirs, the house had languished in bureaucracy hell for decades, with no one willing to pay the back taxes with a violent haunting going on.    
  
Oh, and any experts in that field that were brought in were ejected with force. Eventually it just wasn’t worth the expenditure.    
And so it had sat for half a century.    
(“No, Lup, you cannot use grant funds to buy a house for research purposes. I can give you a small budget for field work purposes.”)    
  
This was the reason Lucretia was in the car along with Taako. The only reason, despite Lup’s argument that she had been doing perfectly well on her own so far, and any breaking of trust could be catastrophic, but Davenport had been firm. Lucretia was a better note taker and far better at keeping anyone from getting hit by flying glass shards.    
  
Lup pulled in the drive and looked at them both sternly as she turned off the car, “Stay here while I warn him first. He’s skittish.”    
  
Taako lazily waved a hand from his sprawl in the back seat, “Go prep your ghost boyfriend, Lulu.”    
  
Lucretia just nodded, not bothering to look up from her notebook.   
Flipping Taako off made Lup feel better as she walked up the path and knocked on the door before walking in, but her unease still made it into her voice when she called Barry’s name.

Barry had been waiting with the excitement the moment he heard the sound of a car coming up the road. It was odd to think that only a few weeks ago, he would have dreaded that sound, that the idea of anyone coming up here just meant bad things were coming. Instead, he was excited to see her. Lup was... Alright, if he was going to privately admit it only to himself, Barry thought Lup was pretty amazing. She was smart, she had good taste in books, she didn't panic when he lost it and threw things around the house. Pretty amazing. And pretty. And... Yeah, don't go down that rabbit hole.   
  
He floated invisibly by the window, looking out at the car parked at the end of the driveway. He was expecting Lup. He was expecting her brother. He was not expecting another person. The door opened slowly, but he stayed invisible.    
  
_ "I uh...I thought... I mean, you uh... you probably wouldn't bring somebody you don't trust and that's... that's cool. I just... I thought...just your brother." _   
  
He didn't sound angry, more like scared, and he was back to projecting his voice around so it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once.

Lup winced, her ears flattening slightly against her head, and she raised her hands palm out in a ‘calm down’ gesture. Her words came out in something of a rush.

“Yeah, I wasn’t wild about it either, but, uh, you’ve apparently made a big reputation for yourself, didja know? Me ‘n Taako aren’t local enough for all the ‘everyone knows’ stuff, but my boss wasn’t keen on letting me come out  here without quote unquote ‘an extra pair of eyes’ which I would have anyway but because it’s Lucretia and her thesis advisor was Maureen Miller and she said that would mean something to you-“    
  
Lup paused to take a gulp of air, “And I can tell them to stay outside and that’s fine.”

Barry suddenly appeared right in front of Lup, maybe a foot away. Lup jumped but he was looking at her almost incredulously, too shocked to notice,   
  
_ "Did you say Maureen Miller? Holy shit, the intern is someone's... someone's thesis advisor?" _ __   
__   
He honestly sounded like he was going to laugh. With a big smile on his face, he went to look out the window.   
  
__ "I don't mind if they come in, I...I guess? As long as they both uh... you know. No messes. Don't uh... don't do anything to the books? I'd say take your shoes off at the door, but honestly that ship fucking sailed like... five decades ago."

Grinning, Lup backed out of the door, throwing him a thumbs up, “Got it, model house guests. No prob.”   
  
By the time she’s reached the car they’ve seen her coming and have gotten out, Taako leaning against the car and trying not to act like he isn’t tense as a wire, and Lucretia being MUCH better at the stoic statue bit.    
  
“Geez babe, you weren’t kidding, he pretty much lit up the whole house.”    
  
Lucretia gave her a lopsided smile.    
“Oh good, it wasn’t complete shot in the dark, but pretty close.”   
  
Taako brushed past them to saunter up the path, “Yeah, super cool and all, but ch’boy is bored of waiting.” Walking in the open door, he throws his hands in the air, calling out in a melodramatic voice.   
  
“Spirits. We beseecheth of thee, come unto- oh hey, dude, didn’t see you there.”

Barry vanished and reappeared closer to the stairs. Taako was A Lot and Barry wasn't quite prepared for that. He adjusted his glasses nervously and gave them both a shy wave.   
  
_ "So uh... I mean... it's nice to meet you." _   
  
He hovered uncertainly for a moment. It had been a lot time since he'd interacted with this many people. Even alive, he had been shy and more than a bit introverted. Trying to interact with multiple extroverts at once was a brand of draining he hadn't experienced since... Well, being perfectly honest, the last set of elf twins he'd been friends with. He tried not to laugh out loud as the thought ‘You've got a fucking type, Barry Bluejeans’ shot unbidden through his mind. Then he looked at Lucretia with a smile.   
  
_ "Maureen was our uh... our intern back in the day. She used to do the coffee run and uh... I mean, she was shaping up to be a damn good scientist. How is she?" _

Lucretia, by contrast to Taako’s exuberance, seemed to pull silence into her personal bubble. Her glance at Barry is.... piercing, but not unkind.    
  
“She’s well, the most terrifyingly brilliant professor I had by a long shot. She’s recently retired from academia to build robots with her son, the last I heard.”   
  
Taako was making obvious motions to catch Lup’s eye which she was pointedly ignoring as she draped herself across Lucretia’s shoulder.    
  
“Luc is the only one of us with a degree and letters after her name and Gravitas and all that.”

Barry put a hand to his head, a little stunned,  _ "Holy shit, she's got a kid." _ __   
  
Then he pulled himself back together with a little shake.    
  
_ "I uh... I guess I should introduce myself. Manners. I have those. Just because I'm dead doesn't mean I don't have to use my manners. I'm Barry. Uh... Doctor... Barry Bluejeans, if we're being... formal? I'd rather not though." _ __   
  
He floated a little closer, looking to see if they had brought any sort of equipment or anything with them,  __ "Did you want to run more tests or uh... or can I nerd out about how good Deep Wizardry was? I liked a lot of the concepts in High Wizardry but there were uh... a lot of references that went right over my head."

Lup’s ears pricked up, excitedly.    
  
“Both for sure,” a loud groan from Taako, “-ignoring the doofus with no taste, look, we’re gonna hook some stuff up a generator, Taako’s gonna be checking for, uh, specific wavelengths and see if they match some of our records, and Lucy is here for notes. It’s all chill.”    
  
Maybe if she repeated it enough he’d believe it.

_ "Like an electrical generator? Or like another kind of uh... of generator?" _ __   
  
Barry looked at Lup curiously. Then he shrugged,  __ "If you want, we can do this in the kitchen. That at least still has... you know, uh... chairs? That are in one piece, mostly."   
  
He vanished from sight for just a moment, reappearing in the kitchen door. He was still a little unsure of the other two. Especially Taako. He seemed... Well, something about Taako was familiar in a way Barry didn't exactly like, but not too familiar. Like an echo of a memory without context.

Lup detached from Lucretia as she followed him, “Yeah for sure, it’s in the truck we’ll be right back-“   
  
Lucretia glanced back as both twins vanished out the door, then turned a wry look to Barry, and flipped open her notebook, “Question for question?”    
  
  


* * *

  
“You have a type, Lulu.”   
  
“I’m ignoring you, see this? Me: ignoring you. Grab that end, would you?   
  
“I’m sorry, what? I’m too busy being ignored over here-“   
  
“Shut the fuck up and help me carry this heavy-ass generator, but MOSTLY shut the fuck up.”

* * *

 

Barry went into the kitchen, Lucretia following after. He gave her a wry grin,  _ "I'd pull out a chair for you but uh... Honestly, I either won't move it or I'll throw it across the room. But sure, question for question sounds good." _   
  
He settled into his own chair, remaining visible this time. The chair creaked under his weight just like before. It was almost disconcerting given that he was still mostly translucent,  _ "How about I go first? What should I uh... know about recent history? Since uh... '68." _

Lucretia laughed as she made a note, “Boy, you don’t start with the easy questions, do you? Well, let’s see -“   
  
It was somewhat more of a lengthy dissertation backed up by a series of Wikipedia articles than a simple back and forth of questions, but getting from the Moon Landing to the 1980s did give the twins enough time to come back and set up the generator, and start providing commentary, having lived through more of the decades as adults than Lucretia. 

When they reached the last decade of  _ most _ of the current state of affairs, she laughed and ran a finger over the few notes she made while talking, “So all that probably left you with MORE questions, but um,” she tilted her head a bit from side to side, “if you wouldn’t mind jumping off a bit from our work- what’s your limit on, hm, influencing things in the physical world?”

Barry was in awe of the leaps and bounds that technology had taken since his... since he'd last been out and about. He was still taking it all in when Lucretia asked her question. He nodded slowly. Reaching out for a plate that sat on the table, he held his hand above it and focused. Slowly, the plate began to rise.   
  
_ "I'll be honest, I haven't exactly uh... been testing it? I mean... I've been doing stuff for a while. I uh... I can interact with things pretty alright if I can uh... if I can focus on it? Or if I'm really emotional, it works better but I've got less control." _ __   
_   
_ He paused for a moment, searching for the right words,  __ "I can also reset stuff? If it's mine, if it was here before, I can uh... I can reset it to how it was when uh... Yeah. Does that make sense?"

Lucretia was scribbling furiously and even Taako lost some of his pretense at being disinterested. "That explains the lack of disrepair in here..." this is aimed less at him and seems more like Lucretia thinking out loud.    
  
Lup came over to lean against the kitchen table, while Taako folded his arms and wandered around the kitchen looking at things in a way that would seem random if they didn't see him checking a device in his hand that is definitely not a phone.   
  
Lucretia tapped her notebook again, "And you have no idea why you're still haunting this place?"

Barry tensed. He had a few ideas. After all, he'd woken up on the floor in a puddle of his own blood and then gotten up to find out that his body was sitting laying on the floor. He could vaguely remember candles and a chalk circle and... And the police showing up to put up the crime scene tape that still hung on his door. They'd taken so many things, bagged them up as evidence. He remembered watching them take his ID badge, trying to argue with one of them that he needed that to get to work. They wouldn't let him into the lab without his badge. He had to prove his clearance level. That and Lydia would laugh at him if he'd gone and lost his ID badge again. Of course, none of the police officers had been able to hear him then. He hadn't figured enough out about what he was now to really manage any sort of interaction.   
  
He still hadn't opened his mouth to answer but the readings on Taako's device started to spike just a second before every dish in the cabinets lifted up at once and the cabinet doors flew open. Barry's face had gone pale, his eyes dark, and the bloody stain on his shirt was back. He finally opened his mouth to speak and his voice came out distant and echoing.   
  
**_"I was murdered."_ **

  
Everyone froze when the dishe start floating, Taako frantically fiddled with his monitor as it let out a series of faster and faster beeps. Lup slowly walked closer to Barry, a hand outstretched,   
  
“Okay... okay, Barry, hey it’s your turn to ask something. Can you hear me? That was our question, now you can ask us.”

Barry's head snapped up and he focused on Lup for a long moment. Then he closed his eyes and it seemed to fade. The dishes fell back into place with a clatter. The stain was gone, his eyes were normal. But still, Barry seemed shaken. He blinked a few times and then looked around.   
  
_ "What uh... what happened? Did... did time sort of uh... skip... for anyone else?" _

Lucretia had put her head down and was scribbling furiously as Lup shook her head and there was a long, drawn out “Nooooooo.....?” From Taako.    
  
“You kinda went spacey and uuuuuuhhh, spooky there, babe. Lots of special effects.”

Barry scrubbed at his face for a moment.    
  
_ "Oh... huh... Yeah that uh... that happens sometimes? I think? I mean, sometimes, I sort of... black out a little, I guess? And stuff happens. I don't usually remember a lot of it." _ __   
  
He looked around, checking to see if he'd broken anything. But he was pretty sure he hadn't. Everything looked alright, at least.   
  
__ "Did uh... did I answer your question? I don't even remember what it was..."

Lup kept her face set in a friendly, bland smile while Lucretia flipped a page over and kept scribbling. Taako kept a long trail of muttering under his breath that sounded like “Cool, Cool, coolcoolcoolcool....”   
  
“It’s not super important, whatcha got for us?”

Barry considered for a moment and then grinned.   
  
_ "Okay, less big question this time. I uh... I read High Wizardry and, honestly, love it. That kid's a genius. But uh... Who or what is a Darth Vader?" _

Lucretia’s pen jerked, leaving a line through her last sentence. She ignored it and leaned back, a deeply smug smile on her face.    
  
“The gods have blessed me,” she intoned with extreme gravitas. “I have been given a gift this day, a just reward for putting up with you chucklefucks for three years. This is it, my perfect chance.”    
  
Ignoring the aggrieved noises, she leaned forward and smiled broadly at Barry, “We’ll have to show you. There’s no real way to explain without the full context.”

_ "Show me?"  _   
  
Barry sounded confused. And he looked at the others.   
  
_ "Is it a... a show? Is it like Lost in Space? I always liked that show. I mean, it was a little... you know, formulaic? And I don't really know why they had like... a folding table they were at for basically every scene that wasn't in the ship? But uh..."  _ He stopped then and adjusted his glasses.  _ "Never... never mind. Okay, so I guess that question gets answered later? So... your turn?" _

“It’s actually- no, you know what this is perfect,” Lucretia waved a hand at the twins, Taako having come nearer to casually lean against Lup (on the side furthest from Barry). “Don’t either of you spoil anything either. I want him to see it completely blind, we may never have this kind of chance again.  Uh, hm-“ 

  
She flipped back to her page of questions and glanced between them uneasily. The list included such things as ‘what do you remember from the night you died?’ And ‘could you describe your murderer?’    
This seemed an unwise path to go along.    
Taako beat her to thinking to thinking up something more casual,    
  
“So when you do your ghosty thing,” he waved the hand holding his device at the plate in front of them. “Can you, ah, feel it? Cause when ch’boy lift-levitates a thing, I feel a weight, but not as much.”

_ "Oh, that. Yeah, it's uh... it's pretty much the same as picking it up normally, just a lot harder. I mean, I can't really compare it to magic because... well, we had other specialists in the lab for that kind of uh... thing." _   
  
He reached out normally and focused on keeping his fingers as solid as possible while he picked up the plate. He made it about six inches up before it dropped.   
  
_ "It's easier to do it the other way but it feels less normal, so I usually don't. Unless I need to or its something I don't want to drop." _

“Oh dunk! That reminds me! “ Lup hopped up from the table and hurried over to dig through the bag next to the generator. “Brought you a new power pack for that ereader, the one I gave you is probably pretty drained, huh?”    
  
Bringing it out, she waved it towards the stairway, flicking a glance at Taako and Lucretia, before heading towards the stairs as if of course Barry would follow naturally.

Barry vanished from where he was sitting and reappeared already at the top of the stairs.    
  
_ "Thanks, Lup. I read a few of the books on there too. I uh... I have a lot of time on my hands, you know?" _   
  
He looked a little embarrassed but he was smiling, " _ Think you could show me how uh... how to tell if the charger still has juice? Because my way just ends up draining it." _

“Sure! Now this one has a big button in the middle, if you push it, it lights up with the percentage...”


	4. Chapter 4

As soon as Lup and Barry were halfway up the stairs, Lucretia and Taako stood up and moved quickly; Lucretia reaching inside the bag to grab a stick of rowan wood, Taako to push his monitor against the small door next to the sink.    
  
“Largest readings were coming from over here, not by the nerd,” he muttered. “Chances are it- oh good, hey look at that. A fuckin’ door leading down into a murder basement. Fuckin’ fantastic.”    
  
Lucretia shouldered past him, flicking a flashlight on and holding the rod ahead of her.    
  
“You said you wanted to hunt ghosts, Taako.”    
  
He rolled his eyes and followed her, uneasiness in every line of his step, “NO, what ch’boy  _ said _ was, ‘Lulu, you aren’t going to talk to a ghost without me AGAIN’, and then YOU pulled out the fuckin’ police report with all the details and Lup wouldn’t listen to me when I said we should burn this whole house down. Lup! Said  _ no _ to burning a house down! No one would even miss it!”

The basement was dark and dank and smelled a bit like mildew and rust. At first, the iron tang seemed to just be coming from the fact that the basement didn't seem to be anywhere near as well cared for as the rest of the house. Perhaps the pipes had rusted, or the old tools on the bench along one side of the room. But as Lucretia's flashlight swept the room, it was clear that the smell was the iron tang of old blood. A circle was inscribed in the center of the room in chalk with complex runes and sweeping lines, all coming together to form one of the most complex pieces of spell work that either of them had ever seen. It was precise and carefully done, with a space in the center for some sort of focus and two spaces on the outside for the ritualists. It was perfectly balanced, perfectly symmetrical. Except, of course, for the blood splashed across it and the melted down stubs of candles that had been left in their place.    
  
Everything about the basement felt Wrong. The smell shouldn't have been this strong, not after so many decades. The ritual should never have been left like this. The very air in the basement felt thick and was hard to breathe for long. The longer they looked at the ritual circle, the more it smelled like nothing but death and decay and blood that wouldn't leave.

Lucretia forced herself to keep walking, even as she felt the acid bile feeling of wrong magic slide across her skin and  hit the back of her throat when she tried to breathe through her mouth to avoid the smell. Taako's hand on her shoulder was a vice grip, and she knew if she hesitated for a second he'd be back up the stairs before she'd had time to register him moving. Softly, her rowan stick started to glow. It didn't illuminate the scene like her flashlight did, so much as push back at the dark cloud that seemed to hang around the center of the room.    
  
Taako kept hitting the volume on his monitor as the beeping became incessant, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we get it, bad mojo all up in here, hey do we NEED to stay down here?"   
  
Lucretia inhaled slowly, held her breath, and let it out equally as slow, "You'll have to take the pictures, my hands are full. Video too, maybe."   
  
Taako grumbled, but did let go of her long enough to take pictures from as many angles as he could reach. Parts of the basement seemed somehow averse to light, as though the beam of the flashlight refused to breach the boundaries of those shadows. The corners were darker than dark and almost seemed to hum. As Taako was taking pictures around the room, he suddenly froze, looking into one of the corners. The shadow had moved. He looked down at his camera and flicked back and forth between the two pictures. It wasn't a trick of the light, or a flashlight moving. The shadow had moved all on its own.

"Taako?" Lucretia's voice was very calm, super calm, calm like an ocean on a windless day. "Is something wrong?"   
  
Without being told anything, she concentrated on her rowan wand and the glow around it intensified, pushing stubbornly at the.....well, the non-scientifically named Bad she was calling it in her head.   
  
"Yeah just peachy," Taako muttered, flipping through the pictures once more. "Just, uh, just aim that in that corner, and we'll be out of here in NO time."    
  
Lucretia stretched out her arm and pushed with the rowan wand.

And that's just about when things broke...bad. 

* * *

  
On the second floor, Lup was engaging Barry in a vehement discussion about Deep Wizardry that started as a way to keep him occupied and had escalated into excitedly pulling up maps of the ocean on her phone to show him where things had happened.

Barry had so much to say about the book, really he could have been distracted for hours easily, if he hadn’t suddenly flickered like the image on an old rabbit ears TV losing reception. He doubled over, dropping to his knees with his hands on his stomach almost like he was trying to stop a wound from bleeding. Everything hurt. Why did it hurt? His eyes went black, the emptiness almost seeming to spill out of them as he screamed, red lightning crackling all over him.

* * *

  
In the basement, the shadow took on a human shape, looking very much like Barry but wrong, twisted and cracked with iridescent color shot through the cracks. It made a sound like a tea kettle's whistle and a cat's hiss trying to harmonize and shot further into the basement, in the back behind the furnace.

Taako and Lucretia's shrieks of panic could be heard all the way upstairs, which wasn't terrific for Lup, who had just opened her mouth to yell for help,    
  
"SHit-" she couldn't grab Barry, in fact attempting to touch seemed like a very bad plan right now. Focusing as much as she possibly could, she pulled a small tongue of fire into her hand as she clattered down the stairs, yelling for Taako and Lucretia.    
  
Stumbling to a halt in the kitchen, Lup held the ball of flame up higher as she saw Lucretia holding them both in a protective bubble as Taako put his hands on the door and frame, seeming to pull them together and fuse them shut.   
  
"What. The FUCK."   
  
Taako stepped away from the door, gave it a glance over, and nodded. The light from Lucretia's rowan wand dimmer as they stumbled away from the basement door and towards Lup. Taako grinned brightly at her, panic making his eyes wild, "So! Never going down there again, everything's fine as long as we don't scare the shadow mirror image of your ghost boyfriend!"

The shadow in the basement had melted once more into the natural darkness, biding its time. It didn't like the light or those who carried it. They could and would be dealt with.   
  
Barry gasped as he vanished, appearing on the floor in the living room. He was laying on his back in a pool of blood. His shirt was stained black with it and his glasses were broken. And he didn't know how he'd gotten here. Slowly, he got up, pulling himself to standing through sheer force of will. Then he looked around, memories streaming back. The blood was still there. Why was the blood still there? And then he remembered more and ran towards the stairs.

_ “Lup?” _

"No but really, Taako, what the fu-" Lup whirled around at the sound of Barry's voice, the flame in her hand going out. " Barry?"   
She ran back into the living room, skidding to a stop as she processed the scene in front of her,, "Shit, dude, are you okay?"   
  
Below them, Lucretia leaned against a wall, still holding onto her wand, white-knuckled, staring into the middle distance with a faraway look on her face.

_ "How uh... how did you...?"  _  He looked up the stairs and then back at her confused. _ "How did we both get down here? I don't... I remember being upstairs and then..." _   
  
He rubbed his temples, eyes scrunched closed. _ "I didn't think I could get headaches anymore but I feel like... like someone was drumming on the inside of my head." _ __   
  
In the basement, the shadow reached out. It could feel that someone was still prying, still investigating. And it didn't like that. With a  __ skreeee , it lashed out, tendrils of darkness reaching for the spellcaster who had dared to challenge it with light.

Before Lup could answer, the basement door slammed and the three of them jump, Lup calling fire back to her palm. Taako backed towards her, eyes locked on the door, muttering a steady "Shit, shit, shit, *fuuUuck? Shit" Lucretia put both hands on her wand and it started glowing again.   
  
"So I think Taako might have been wrong about us scaring it...."

Barry clenched his teeth, grimacing. His head was pounding now,  _ "What... what the hell is... is in my basement?"  _ He started to move towards the door and the vanished, reappearing back in the living room. He was swaying unsteadily,  _ "Shouldn't be anything in the... basement." _   
  
It pulled back again, hissing in an undertone. They would be wary now, these hunters armed with light and fire. It took Barry's shape again and raised its head to sniff the air. Ah yes, and it's Other was there. The hope of which it was disillusion, the light of which it was darkness. Master and Mistress would be pleased when it reported in again. These new souls would feed their power well.

"Barry.." Lucretia swallows and pushed out with her wand again, a silvery bubble appearing over the basement door, going through it into the other side. "Barry it.....whatever it is, it looks almost like you. I wouldn't-"   
  
Lup turned away from the door, not letting her fire go out, but focusing on Barry as much as she could, "What's going on, babe? What happened in there?"   
  
Bad questions and faulty memory or not, surely if things got worse it was better having MORE information than things getting worse and having none, right?

_ "I....I died... They... Someone... I don't remember..." _ Barry had his head in his hands and red lightning crackled over his skin. _ "I remember the pain and the blood and the...the candles? And someone... someone said... something about... living forever?" _ __   
  
If he was thinking more clearly, he would know, but it hurt to try and focus. His mind kept skipping like a stone on the surface of a pond, refusing to settle fully into the memory. It was there and then it was gone. _ "There was magic. I remember that. And...and the police after, they said there was magic but uh... but the specialists were... They didn't... I don't know, Lup. I'm... I'm sorry." _ __   
  
He flickered again and stood halfway up the stairs. He wanted to get as far away from the basement as he possibly could.

"Cool, immortality sacrifices, fan-fuckin-tastic, what could possibly have gone wrong-"   
  
Lup turned back to the door and gripped Taako's shoulder. Running at the mouth might be a nervous tick for him, but now was not the time, "Luc, how's that barrier holding?"   
  
Lucretia smiled briefly, her hands twisting along her wand which was certainly bright enough to constitute 'glowing' by now, "If I answer, it'll jinx it."

_ "I.... Lup, I... I don't think you're safe."  _ Barry didn't feel right. His head was still pounding and he felt dizzy. He took a few more steps backward up the stairs towards his room. _ "I don't... I don't feel so... good." _ __   
  
It had stopped snapping and clawing at the doors, pulling back instead. There were other ways around pesky hunters and their barriers. It would fest on blood again, feed Master and Mistress who were far from here. Pulling back, it went to the furnace. The duct work filled the walls. It could be anywhere.    
  
Barry took another step, standing in the middle of the upstairs hallway. He felt like the world was spinning. Maybe, maybe Lup could fix this like she had before. But there was always the chance that it would only get worse. He didn't want to put her in danger, he didn't want to put any of them in danger.

Lucretia tilted her head and frowned as there continued to be a lack of pressure on her barrier, "Either it's given up or-" she glanced back at Barry, her frown getting deeper, "-it's not trying the door anymore."   
  
Lup gritted her teeth and made herself turn her back on the door and walk towards Barry, Taako's hand reaching out and grabbing her elbow notwithstanding.   
  
"Okay, Barry? Bear, babe, Barry fuckin' Bluejeans, look at me, kay? Focus on me right now. Can you do that? Can you stay in one place for a bit?"

_ "I... don't know. I can try. But... Lup, I really don't think you should stay. I'm... I'm sorry. I didn't... I didn't know..."  _ He froze for a moment, his eyes staring into oblivion.   
  
One of them was holding him down, other other straddling his hips. He was screaming, trying to fight free. Why couldn't he remember their faces? Why didn't they have faces? Then the knife came down and he was all out of questions.   
  
Barry vanished and reappeared just a foot in front of Lup. His eyes were wild with fear and he was shaking, flickers of red lightning running along his arms, _ "Lup, it... it's... it wants to kill you." _

Taako laughed, high and strangled, "No shit? Never woulda guessed..."   
  
Lup firmly ignored him and reached out both hands, palms up,  to Barry, "Okay, good, you can tell us what, can you tell us why? "

Barry started to reach out, one hand outstretched to her. Then he pulled it back,  _ "I don't know. It's... I don't think I knew about it?"  _ He winced and flickered slightly,  _ "I...I don't know. I just know that you're not safe. I don't want anyone else to... to get hurt. I'm... I'm starting to remember things, maybe and... And it hurts. I'm sorry." _   
  
It moved through the walls, creeping through the pipes as it searched for a way out. There were many, many options, many places it could go. It slipped out through the baseboards into the living room and stood, unfolding like the nightmare of a paper doll. One shaped like Barry. It adjusted dark lensed glasses and smiled slowly, the brightly colored cracks in its face shifting.   


**"Hello, Lup."**

The movement dragged her attention away from Barry and it was a nightmare,  like one where everything moves faster than you and your legs are covered in molasses. Lup stares in stunned horror as the Not Barry grins at her, a mocking facsimile of Barry's enthusiastic beaming. 

"Oh **_fuck_ ** no."   
  
She barely draws her hands back before she's throwing fireballs from both of them, aiming ("aiming") for this fucking imposter's face, that it shouldn't be wearing.

Barry yelped, vanishing only to reappear behind Lup next to Taako,  _ "What the FUCK?"  _ In his moment of terrified panic, he grabbed Taako's arm, perfectly corporeal. Taako? Taako screamed.   
  
It let out a shriek as the fire hit it dead on and then it collapsed into a puddle of dark ooze. For a long moment, the puddle seemed still. Then it sank into the floorboards. The boards rippled, almost like soft earth with something burrowing through it. The shade was moving towards the door.

"FUckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck-" Lup flung another fireball at the floor, because it worked so well the first time. Lucretia was shouting- something. A bright barrier appeared under Lup's feet and in front of her face, thank the gods AFTER she shot that last fireball.   
  
"*Get together, I can keep it up better if we're all together, shit-" Lucretia was babbling in her ear at this point, dragging back at her shoulder.

The door slammed open, hitting the wall hard enough to knock one of the framed pictures loose. It fell to the hardwood with a crash as the glass shattered. For a moment, Not Barry stood in the doorway, looking at them all with a razor smile.   
  
**"Well then. This has certainly been...entertaining, Lup. And the other two are... Lucretia and Taako. Fascinating."**   
  
As Not Barry spoke, the real Barry was holding his head like it ached, the red lightning moving from his arms to all over, concentrated around his face. He definitely felt like something was drilling a hole in his head. He grunted, trying to say something, but couldn't get the words out past the blinding pain.   
  
**"I'm sure my Master and Mistress will be pleased to know there are visitors."** And then it was gone. It didn't vanish like Barry did. Instead it moved cartoonishly fast, disappearing down the driveway like it had ran but far, far too fast. Nothing should move like that.

For something like twenty seconds the only sound was three lungs panting and the back of the neck humming that comes from Lucretia's barrier. Finally Lup let out a long breath and patted Lucretia's arm, "I think....it's mostly gone, babe."    
  
The barrier flickered once before vanishing completely and everyone sighed, Taako leaned against the wall and started laughing hysterically.   
  
"Oh gods....GODS, that was fuckin- fuck, fUCK"  
  
Lup reached out and pulled him against her, not looking away from the open door.

Barry stood up straighter once it was gone. He suddenly felt better, he could think clearer. The bloodstains on his shirt were gone, as was the pool of blood in the middle of the room. It was all gone. He felt normal. Well, ghostly dead guy normal. Not... never mind. He went to go pick up the broken picture that had been hanging by the door, willing the glass to reform.   
  
_ "What uh... what the hell was that? And why did it look like me?" _

"OH we all wanna know that, Barold," Taako drawled, leaning into Lup and squeezing her back. Lucretia's grip on her wand had barely loosened and she was staring out the door with Lup, her normally deep brown face gone almost grey.   
  
"It.....said something about 'master' and 'mistress', " Lup said slowly, "I don't, uh, I don't suppose you're any closer to knowing who killed you than we are?"

With a gesture from Barry, the framed picture was back on the wall. It hung just behind him as he turned towards Lup, Taako, and Lucretia. The picture looked like three people standing together. One of them was clearly Barry, pointing at something behind them excitedly. The other two were more focused on the camera. The pair of elves in the picture posed, one of them flashing a peace sign at the photographer.   
  
_ ”I’m... I’m remembering bits and pieces I didn’t know before. More of... how it happened.”  _ __   
__   
He paused, almost as though he expected talking about it to go bad. But it didn’t. Not this time,  _ ”There were two of them. And they were talking about... about living forever. Never dying. I don’t... remember their faces.” _   
  
He glanced back at the door, warily,  __ ”I think that thing is going to come back. And... You need to leave. Come back... later. Not today. Fuck, I... I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”

Taako darted for their bags before Barry finished speaking, "Yeah okay fine cool, best idea I've heard all day."   
  
Lucretia darted a look between the front door and Barry before slowly following Taako to pack up, nodding slowly, "We need to regroup, this is going to take more than what we brought with us."   
  
Lup ignored them both, reaching out to touch Barry's shoulder, or... place her hand where it SHOULD be, "We're coming back, alright? I'M coming back. I'm not leaving you to deal with....whatever that was on your own, got it?"   
  


For a moment, it was as though there was resistance, as though she was reaching into something almost like jello. Then her hand passed through him and it felt like ice. Barry gave Lup a sad smile.   
  
_ "I'd like that, if I'm being... if I'm totally honest. I just don't want... You heard what that thing said. It's telling someone you're here. And I..." _ He looked pale for a moment as he fought with his emotions,  _ "Go, okay? I'll be fine." _

Barry watched them go, staying in the doorway until they were gone. Then he pulled back and let the door close slowly. He wanted to lay down, to curl up in a ball, maybe to throw up. And he also had a fierce light of hope burning in his chest now. She wasn't going to leave him to deal with this alone, and that was a lot. With a little shake of his head, he went to go make sure the basement door was closed. Even with that thing gone, he didn't want to think about what was down there.

* * *

  
A few hours passed and Barry heard a car door slam. A frown crossed his face and he turned towards the window. He was pretty sure Lup wasn't going to come back that quickly.    
  
"Can you believe it? After all these years, Bluejeans might finally be making himself useful again."   
  
"I know, it's like a dream. I'd assumed he'd finally faded away."   
  
Barry vanished from sight, pulling himself into the wall. He knew those voices. He knew them so very well and he didn't like their tones. Two sets of footsteps came up the steps and someone pushed the door open.    
  
"Barry, we're baaaack." Edward strode into the room, a dangerous smile on his lips. "It's been so  _ long _ , darling."   
  
"And we just can't wait to meet your new friends." Lydia followed him a step later, taking her sunglasses off in the dark of the room.   
  
Barry couldn't pass the boundaries of the house. That was something he'd learned long ago. His world was confined to the walls of his house and nothing more. In this moment, he wished he could run, could hide, could do anything. He closed his eyes and relocated himself to the top of the stairs, staying invisible. He could watch them from here. The twins who had once been his friends walked around the first floor of the house, examining the generator in the kitchen, the new books on the shelf.   


"Someone's been here, Lydia."   
  
"A pity they're gone now. We'll have to send our little watchdog back to keep an eye out."   
  
"It probably scared them off."   
  
For a long moment, they were quiet. Barry peeked through the railings, studying the face of the man he had loved for a long moment.    
  
"You know, I thought we'd see Barry." Lydia said it softly, almost curious.   
  
Edward sneered. "He's probably hiding. He was always a coward. Come on, Lyds, we have things to do. If there's no one here, it's not worth it to stay."   
  
The pair walked out the front door again, leaving Barry alone with more questions and answers he didn't want.


	5. Chapter 5

It wasn’t until tiny fingers of dawn are reaching across the sky that Lup’s car finally came up the drive. She was alone and didn’t make a move to get out of the car until there was a significant amount of sunlight, drumming her fingers impatiently along the steering wheel. When day had broken to her satisfaction, she jumped out and opened the trunk, loading herself with bag after bag, and lugging them up the porch to the door, which she kicked with a foot.    
  
“Let me in, Barry, we have shit to do!”

 

The door swung open. Barry was pressed against one wall like he'd been about to fade into it when she spoke.    
  
_ "Shit, I'm glad it's you this time." _ __   
__   
Nothing looked different, but the house felt wrong now, the same way the basement felt bad. Dangerous even.   
  
_ "That thing came back last night and... Lup, I... I know who... I know who..." _ __   
  
He couldn't say it. It hurt and he couldn't force the words out.

 

“Cool, put a pin in that,” Lup’s voice was clipped, her ears flat, and there was an aura of barely contained violence around her as she dumped her bags in the hallway. “Any of that you can touch, move it to the kitchen, I have to get the salt.” 

 

_ "Salt?" _ __   
  
Barry only took a moment to his confusion though, helping move as much as he could. There were a few things that felt like magic and he left those alone. They stung and left his hands tingling in a way he didn't much like.

  
After striding back to her car, Lup hefted a ten pound bag of salt out of the trunk and locked everything. Coming back, she could be heard to be muttering and counting off on her free hand,    
“Salt, iron, bleach, gloves, goggles, scraper, hope the generator isn’t fucked with...”    
  
Coming back in the door, she grabbed one of the bags and went into the kitchen to throw both of them down.   
“We’re gonna fuck up that basement, first of all. Now who came back?”

  
  
_ "I mean, they touched the generator a little but I uh... I don't think they knew what..." _ __   
  
Then he froze.   
  
__ "We're.... we're going in the basement? Lup, that's... that's a really bad idea. Like a really awful idea? Like a rocks fall, everyone dies idea."

 

Lup moved towards the sealed door, “Yup. That’s a thing we’re doing.”   
Running a hand along the door seam, she tapped at a few spots and nodded. Not Taako’s most precise work, he’d left the wood thinner and weaker than the actual door jamb in fact.    
  
Aiming for the seam, she ran her hands along it, encouraging the wood to peel back into its original form, or at least let go of the wall. She wasn’t nearly as good at convincing stuff to change without a spell circle like Taako was, but they were always fairly good with undoing each other’s work..

 

_ "Why?" _   
  
Barry was right behind her, watching the wood twist and peel away uneasily.  _ "Lup, it's down there. I... Listen, just... They called it a watchdog. They're waiting for you to come back and... Lup, they were my friends. They hadn't... They looked exactly the same as... as before." _   
  
He was clearly shaken up by whatever had happened before, flickering in and out and almost vibrating in place.

 

“The ones from your photos? Yeah, elves will do that,” The door pulled back into its own shape again with a sense of a tired groan. It was slightly warped, and thicker at the bottom, but it would have to do. Turning back to her supplies, she saw Barry’s distress and softened. 

  
“Listen Barry, Davenport called an exorcism crew in, which, great, experts in their field and all. But...I don’t  _ know _ them, and whatever they do might not leave a lot of you afterwards.” She grimaced and shook her head, “Plus it’s gonna take them like two days to get here, and waiting for that thing to maybe track down Taako and Lucy? Not a chance.” 

 

_ "Exorcism?" _   
  
Barry sounded absolutely terrified and flickered right into invisibility. The boards were creaking in the kitchen as he paced back and forth. The sound stopped suddenly, and he spoke very quietly.   
  
_ "If we get rid of it, will they... will they not come? I don't... I don't wanna die, Lup. I mean, I'm already dead but... you know what I mean. I'm not... I can't. I'm... scared." _ __   
__   
Digging through her bags, Lup slipped an iron chain link glove onto her right hand, leaving her left free. Goggles and a painter’s face mask next, and she was as armored as she could be without slowing down.    
“No idea, but if I can clear this shit out, there’s a better chance of telling them to fuck off. Now, I’m going to line this room with salt, pick in or out of it.”

  
Barry looked at her, confused, _ "Which side are you gonna be on?" _

 

While he had been pacing, Lup had poured a line of salt in front of the basement door and along the wall, keeping a steady stream. When she got to the living room entrance, she hesitated, then put the bag down to go lug the generator into the kitchen.    
Hey, if it wasn’t broken yet, might as well protect it. 

  
“This is to protect my shit and have a fall back, I’m going down into the basement,” she gestured to the two jugs of bleach and a long scraper in her bags. “If that doesn’t it, I have vinegar. Just, uh, won’t stay down there very long. Like, at all.”

 

_ "Then I'm going with you." _   
  
He didn't sound like he liked that idea. At all. He didn't sound like he wanted anything to do with the basement. He, in fact, sounded very much like a man who doesn't want to admit that his house has a basement let alone that they're about to go down into it. But there was also a determined undertone. He cared a lot more about her than he did about staying out of the basement.   
  
_ "I'll keep watch or something." _

 

“Awesome.”    
Lup finished her circle around the kitchen and checked it twice for gaps. Satisfied with her work, she piled the cleaning supplies next to the basement door and pointed at the living room doorway, 

  
“Actually, check for me that you actually can’t cross that, and I’m not being an idiot. If you can’t, I’ll scuff it here-“ at the basement door, “and we’ll head in. I’ve got more salt to seal it after me, and I’m tossing the bleach on the first thing that looks slightly blood magicky.”

Barry had returned to visible status at some point in all of this and he moved towards the basement door. When he went to cross the salt circle, he yelped and was launched back into the center of the room. For a moment, he seemed to flicker before he stabilized.   
  
_ "Shit shit shit..." _   
  
He rubbed his hands on his jeans and then looked at them for a long moment before looking at Lup. For a moment, it looked like he had burns on his hands but then they cleared.   
  
_ "Yeah, pretty sure I can't cross that." _

 

“Cool shit,” Lup took a deep breath, then pulled the painters mask up and the goggles down. Bending over to scuff the salt aside from the door with one hand, she picked up scraper and bleach and stood tall before kicking at where she had pulled the door apart earlier.    
  
Her first kick proved the door was more warped at the bottom than she had thought; it didn’t budge, but the second slammed it open, banging against the wall.    
  
And it really ruined her cool pose to have to turn and grab her other supplies and seal the line after Barry crossed, but she supposed that sometimes sacrifices had to be made.

 

Barry closed his eyes and dropped through the stairs instead of walking. He hated how that felt, he really did, but he would rather he got down into the basement before she did. Just in case. Not that he had a clue what he could do against that thing, but hey. He’d come up with a plan later.    
  
Looking around, he scanned the darkness to try and find his shadow double. He was about to open his mouth to say it looked clear when he heard his own voice call out.   
  
**”The coast’s clear, Lup. I think it’s hiding.”** ****  
  
The voice had come from behind him.

 

“Cool, I just need five minu-“ Lup’s ear twitched as something about the cadence sent an itch down the back of her neck. Her body straightened and whirled around, moving quicker than her slow logic mind that was still wondering if that sounded ‘weird’. Her ungloved hand was held high with a tongue of flame floating above it. “Oh FUCK you!”    
  
She was pouring most of her concentration into make the fire bright rather than hot but still the very top of it licked hungrily at the support beams with the force of her anger let loose from its controlled simmer. This thing DARED? To use Barry’s voice??

 

_ "Lup, that wasn't-" _   
  
Barry was cut off when she yelled but he grinned. She knew it wasn't him. Holy shit, she knew it wasn't him. Did she really know him that well?    
  
It reeled back, hissing and throwing its arms up to shield it from the light. It stumbled back away from her and then spun in on itself like water going down a drain before it vanished. It reformed in the deep shadows, still shaped like a corrupted shadow of Barry.    
  
**"You can't hide behind your light forever. I will rip. I will tear. I will consume."**

 

“Looks like only one of us is hiding, you cheap Gollum knock-off,” Lup took her time walking down the stairs, focusing on not tripping and not setting the basement on fire. Stepping onto the concrete of the basement floor was actually the hardest part, malice rolled off it and through the soles of her boots.    
  
Gripping her nerve, concentration, and jug firmly, Lup splashed bleach over the neat ritual circle and blood stains. Once, twice, three times, and that was half the jug gone.

 

It circled the room, hissing as she moved. Barry had his eyes on it the entire time. As the specter moved to try and get behind Lup, Barry dove at it. He connected solidly into its torso but flew clear through it. When he stood up again, there were streaks of the same darkness that made up the creature smeared across his face, hands, and chest. The specter looked at him and started laughing, the sound echoing around the room like nails scraping on glass.

 

Lup sprayed more bleach, trying not to choke on the mixture of its smell and evil magic hitting the back of her throat, mask or not. The liquid was starting to pull.... red.... off the concrete (blood, old blood, Barry’s blood, too red considering it’s lain there half a century) and fuck her she left her scraper at the top of the stairs.    
  
Then the worst noise came from behind her, the sort of laugh she might hear in her nightmares for years to come (if she has years-nope! Not a helpful thought)    
Lup didn’t freeze only through extreme will power, her ears flicking to triangulate that sound. Turning slowly, she held her flame higher.    
“Barry?” Please don’t let it catch the quaver in her voice, “talk to me, babe.”

 

Barry was perfectly visible and clearly him, standing not too far from her and shaking. The dark smears on his spectral form were stark against his pale skin and white shirt. He was trying so hard not to look at his hands, to ignore the bits splattered across his glasses. He could see flecks of color in the darkness and the way it seemed to shift without moving was making him feel ill.   
  
_ "I...I'm right here. I... I'm okay. I... I think?" _   
  
It was staring at Lup now, a slow smile crossing its face. It pointed behind Lup, in Barry's direction.   
  
**"You won't be able to save him, you know. He was a fool and you’ll be mine soon too. Another pet for Master and Mistress."**

 

“Yeah, fuck you very much. Barry, babe, I need that scrub brush at the top of the stairs, can you get it for me?”    
The constant flame in her hand was starting to wear on her, which was odd, it wasn’t a hard spell. And now she could feel something tugging at her, beyond the expenditure of energy, magic getting low in her chest, but that...could be ignored for now. Moving her hand to leave as few shadows for that fucker to hide in was more important.

 

Barry tried to do his usual vanish and reappear trick and nothing happened. For a moment, he wavered, feeling sick. Then he ran for the stairs instead. Grabbing the scrub brush with all of his focus, he launched it towards Lup. Here's hoping she could catch it.   
  
It ignored Barry as he passed. He didn't matter now. It was fully focused on Lup. It could feel her fires growing weak. Soon, it would be able to satiate its hunger.

 

The problem with having the equivalent of a torch right next to your face for ten minutes is that Lup’s darkvision was shot. She heard the clatter of the handle as it was picked up --a breath, and something knocked against her head, sending an explosion of stars behind her eyes,    
  
“FUCK!”    
  
She dropped to one knee and her fire   
  
Went out.

 

It **smiled.**

  
  
Advancing on her slowly, its mouth opened wider than anything a human should be able to manage. Its maw was dripping with strands of something that was definitely not saliva but really wanted to be. It was like staring into an endless pit of darkness, like looking into the heart of a black hole that wanted nothing but to consume.   
  
And then Barry lost it. Anger and fear surge through him and his control vanished. Anything and everything in the room that wasn't nailed down rose into the air. The specter turned, distracted from its quest but the sudden display of power. But it only smiled as the splotches and smears of darkness on Barry's spectral form began to spread.

 

“Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck-” Lup scrambled for the pole handle, something she could use as a weapon, but her stomach flipped as everything lifted including her.    
Yelling wordlessly, she kicked out her legs searching for the ground, scrambled for something to grab onto but nothing-   
  
Fine. **_Fine._ **

****_  
_ Yanking down her painter’s mask, she inhaled deeply, taking in that horrible smell of blood, magic, bleach, hunger, and the fizzing surge of Barry’s angerANGER _ ANGER _ \--held it in her chest for a brief moment and pushed it through her hands, feeding that energy into a last ditch spell.   
  
Her hands  _ burned _ as the area in front of her exploded into a swirl of red and blue flames.

 

The fire caught it squarely and it reeled, screeching. It tried to escape, and discovered it couldn't move. Barry's head was still back, his eyes rolled up, and it couldn't move. Everything in the room was still caught up in the grip of Barry's mental force. Unable to escape, it succumbed to the flames, leaving nothing but a puff of smoke.    
  
Barry groaned, the sound deep in his throat. Then he swayed slightly and everything fell just before he flickered out and vanished.

 

Lup felt Barry’s hold flicker the second before she dropped, managing to catch herself on knees and forearms without breaking anything, but she felt scraped all over, and the bleach splashed across THOSE and it was a bad scene all around.    
  
Whimpering softly, she reached around for the scraper- there, finally ONE single piece of luck. Using it half as a crutch and half to feel her way back to the stairs, Lup managed to croak,    
  
“Barry?”

 

At first, he couldn't make sound. He opened his mouth and closed it again, too drained to even managed to project sound. Then he tried again, his voice a bare whisper.   
  
_ "Still here." _   
  
He felt thin and torn, like taffy on a puller too long. And there was a voice in the back of his mind whispering, something that hadn't been there before. Something that didn't like Lup, that didn't want him to be happy. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to ignore it and wishing he had the strength to make himself visible. He needed to know if he still had the splotches of that thing all over him. He needed to know if they could get rid of it,  _ "You okay?" _

 

Lup leaned against the wall and stared up the steps towards the open door, the sunlight had barely moved, and it felt like she had been in this oppressive place for hours.    
  
“Rain check on answering that, babe. “   
  
She looked at what she could see of the ritual diagram in the faint sunlight. Somehow it was coming into the basement more now, and that had to be good, right?    
  
The circle was a mess, smeared lines of watered down blood pooled together with streaks of chalk. The candle wax hadn’t been moved much by the bleach, but she had smashed several when she fell. So that was something.

 

After a long moment, Barry managed to flicker into just the bare edge of visibility. He was like a projection on the fog with just those few dark patches. He was standing next to her and reached to offer her a hand despite not being sure he would actually be able to help.   
  
_ "Wanna head back upstairs or uh... or are you gonna stubborn your way through this?" _

 

Lup wheezed a laugh and shrugged, “It’s like you know me or something. Hey, I might as well, since I don’t want to do those stairs a third time.”    
  
Stretching into an actual standing position, rather than a hobble, she pushed the scrub across the floor, smearing the last few lines into incoherency. The melted candles took some doing, but she managed to at least pull them up out of their spots, even if there were now pieces of wax everywhere.    
  
Now the smell of bleach was over powering everything and she had to force herself back up the stairs before she was too dizzy.    
That would be a way to go, after a successful (?) fight and everything.    
Scuffing the salt aside again, she glanced back down the stairs, “How you holding up, Bear?”

 

Barry watched, eyes warily scanning the shadows in the corners. He felt tense and he was still hearing the whispers in the back of his mind.   
  
_ You could live again, Barry Bluejeans. You could be alive. All you have to do is... _   
  
He was ignoring it the best he could. Shaking his head a little, he smiled at her.   
  
_ "I mean, exhausted? I uh... I kinda feel like I ran face first into a truck? Also, trying to solve the mystery of how a ghost takes a bath." _

 

Lup dragged her eyes over him, lingering on the odd....patches uneasily.    
  
"I mean, no shit, homie, all the things we've seen and it's not even eight in the fucking morning."   
Flopping into a chair, she looked down at her bloody hands and knees, "Dunno about a bath, but I'd kill for a shower..." A beat, and then she bit at a knuckle to keep from going off into hysterical giggles. "Or did I do that? Does it count if it wasn't alive?"

 

Barry settled into a chair and stretched.    
  
_ "Don't know. Don't care. I'm just... I'm just glad its gone. If I was gonna... If I knew I had a shitty nightmare basement roommate all these years I would've been charging rent." _ __   
  
His joke fell flat as his nervousness spiked again. He tried to relax, tried to stop the shaking in his hands, __ "I don't know if the water still... works, but if you wanna give it a try, feel free. I'll stay down here."

 

"Jesus...." Lup sprawled across the chair and onto the table, "More stairs. No actually I've made an executive decision, I live here now forever." She was trying to keep her tone flippant, but her legs were starting to shiver so violently she wasn't entirely sure she could trust them for standing.

 

Barry blushed and looked down,  _ "I uh... I mean... if you... if that was what you uh... if you wanted to... I wouldn't say no. That... I... Yeah. There's like... um... I mean, I don't have like... a ghost room... err... guest room... or uh anything like that. But uh... I mean... I don't sleep or anything like that so you could absolutely just like have my room and that would be fine?" _ __   
  
The speed of his words picked up as he was talking, words starting to stumble into each other. He also looked like he was becoming less translucent, like the emotions were helping him recharge from his exhaustion.

 

Lup lifted a hand to make the 'peace' sign at him so she wouldn't have to lift her head from the table and show off the blush she was currently sporting, "Don't think it hasn't crossed my mind, buying this is just back taxes for the whole lot."   
  
Her hand flopped down, tiredly, and she raised her head to look at the kitchen sink. "I bet I could walk that far to see if the water still works."

 

Barry got up again, walking over to the sink.   
  
_ "I got it. You're still shaking." _   
  
He focused on the knobs, willing them to turn. It seemed to take more energy than normal and he stumbled. For just a moment, it seemed like the sink might work and just a little bit of water came out. Then the pipes banged loudly and the water came out brown for a moment before stopping entirely.   
  
_ "Damn... Sorry, Lup. Looks like uh... Like the pump must've broken again. I haven't exactly been doing maintenance..." _ __   
  
He laughed a little and then winced. He really didn't feel right and it seemed like interacting with the physical had made it worse.

 

Lup managed a tired giggle before straightening out and leaning over the chair until there were a series of pops from her back.   
"It's cool, I don't really know if I would, uh, trust anything coming out of those pipes anyway."   
  
She looked at her hands and sighed, "Guess I'd better go before I get any infections off this. That would be a beautiful ending to this....morning. Fuck."   
  
Easing herself off the chair, she made a point to scuff the line of salt at the living room doorway.   
"I'm....gonna leave this stuff here, if you're okay with that." The thought of lifting anything heavy at the moment makes her knees tremble again.   
  
Barry followed her to the door, his gut twisting with a myriad of emotions. He was sure that thing was gone but what if they knew? What if that guy (Davenport?) that Lup mentioned still sent an exorcism team? What if she never came back? What if-?   
  
He cut that train of thought off sharply and nodded.   
  
_ ”Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll keep an eye on it. Maybe try to clean up here some too.”  _ __   
  
He stopped then, a dangerous thought on the tip of his tongue. He hadn’t given her their names yet.   
  
_ ”Lup, wait. I need to... to tell you...” _   
  
The whispers in his mind turned into a roar. They didn’t want him to tell. They wanted to rend and tear and consume. A hunger he hadn’t felt in fifty years churned in his stomach and he was glued to the spot, torn between what he knew he had to do and what a growing part of him wanted. He opened his mouth, intending to say one thing, but instead smiled and said something completely different.   
_   
_ __ ”Don’t forget to tell them we uh... we dealt with that thing. I don’t want to get up one morning and find an exorcist on my doorstep.”

 

Lup waves a hand briefly, “No worries, I’ll be back to scrub the rest of that shit out. Hopefully that’ll be enough for them, s’not like they were rushing out here or anything.”   
  
She leaned briefly against the door, blinking tiredly into the soft morning sunlight. It fitted incongruously against her memory of the last not even an hour.   
“Let me know if anything shows up or uh...” she flicked her fingers at his new look, “that gets worse.”

 

Barry hesitated for a second. He didn't have a way to contact her. It wasn't like he had her number. Or a working phone. But he nodded.   
  
_ "I will. Don't uh... don't stay away too long, right?" _ __   
  
He gave her a bright smile.   
  
__ "And uh... and tell your friend that if she still wants to watch a movie here, she's gonna need to supply the electricity."

 

Lup grinned at that, “Oh hell yes, we have plans. And fucking deserve it.”    
  
Levering herself off the door, she walked unsteadily towards her car, “I’ll be back tomorrow, don’t even trip!”

 

The moment she was out of sight, he doubled over in pain. What the hell was wrong? Why couldn't he say what he wanted to say? He needed to warn her about Edward and Lydia. He needed to tell her there was something wrong with him. But he couldn't force the words to form. He had to find a way to fight this thing and let her know.   
  
Through the course of the day and night, Barry fought the creature writhing inside his mind until he'd managed to leave a message. Even if he couldn't speak the words when she was here, he could leave a message using what was in the house. Painted in stark, 2-foot tall letters against the cheerful wallpaper he wrote the only message he could force out of his mind.   
  
**_Don't trust me, Lup. It's still here._ **


	6. Chapter 6

Going home was....bad. By the time Lup stumbled out of her car, her knees were swollen and inflamed and her hands cramping so badly she had trouble even moving the steering wheel. Taako met her in the driveway and helped her out of the car with a steady commentary on what a _dumbass_ she is, and honestly, HONESTLY? _LULU WHAT THE FUCK?_   
But his hands were gentle as he helped her clean what she could and called Merle for the rest. It wasn't even noon when she crawled into bed and passed out.  
  
She slept for hours and finally only woke to the smell of curry and the sound of voices coming from the kitchen. Walking out, she was greeted by her team and told in NO uncertain terms that no, she was NOT leaving to check on Barry the next morning, she was staying in bed, yes someone else could go check on him, no you are not coming even if you stay in the car, eat this and go to bed.  
  
She couldn't much argue, she felt drained of everything, pain jolting along her veins if she even _thought_ about conjuring a simple flame.  
  
So it was not Lup who pulled up the next afternoon, it was Lucretia and a tall, broad shouldered man Barry wouldn't recognize, certainly not Lup who eased the front door open without a word, and unfortunately not Lup who saw the message on the wall.

 

When Barry saw that Lup wasn't in the car, saw that there was a stranger, he panicked. He had been looking out the window, excited and waiting for her. Now though? Now he was terrified. Was this the exorcist? Was this it? Was his extended stay on this world finally over? He vanished from sight and ran up the stairs, cursing the creaking of each step as he moved. He was shaking and the nausea was rising in him. He ducked down behind the railing at the top of the stairs and watched them, hoping they wouldn't know where he was. Maybe if he just kept away, he'd be alright.

 

Lucretia was uneasy about the whole thing to begin with. Lup’s descriptions of Barry after the fight would have been worrying even  _ without _ her own encounter with the.... unwanted basement guest. As it was, she didn’t quite want to draw Barry’s attention yet as Magnus cheerfully opens the door and looks around with unabashed delight at  _ finally _ being in a real haunted house.    
The writing brings her up short and she stares at the words, heart pounding in her throat, “Magnus....”

  
Her tone brought him back from poking at the picture frames on the stair wall, “....Huh.... well, it doesn’t LOOK like blood.”    
  
Lucretia growled in frustration and grabbed his arm, “We can’t stay here, Magnus, this has gotten  _ way _ beyond our pay grade.”    
  
He ignored her tugging easily, and flipped out his phone to take a picture.

Barry watched the man - Magnus - with tension in every line of his body. Okay, he clearly wasn't a priest. It didn't look like he had any books or tools or really much of anything. Honestly, he seemed pretty harmless for being such a big guy. Barry adjusted his glasses, steadying himself. Then he let himself appear.   
  
_ "Uh... Hi. Lucretia. And uh... Magnus, right? I... uh... I really hope you're not here to uh... kill me? Second kill me? I don't know... I just... I hope that's not what's going on." _

Magnus jumped and ruined his second picture of the wall, yelling  _ probably _ louder than the situation warranted, Lucretia squeaked more out of tension than surprise. They both stared at Barry, Magnus in open curiosity, Lucretia in growing horror as what felt like her worst fears were confirmed.    
  
He looked mostly alright, but he still had those splashes of wrongness, of darkness shot through with opalescent color, smeared across him. It seemed to have spread slightly, extending up his forearms and up into his hair. He licked his lips nervously and tried to talk circles around the thing inside him, the way he'd managed the night before.   
  
_ "Have you uh... have you ever had a moment where you really want to uh... to tell someone something but it's... you know, the words just won't come? And you really need to say things but just... can't? Yeah. It's... I'm not having a great... day?" _

  
Slowly, Lucretia let go of Magnus’s arm and took a step in Barry’s direction, “Y-yeah, I’ve had days like that too. Do you, hm, do you have to... to say it? Maybe... maybe showing instead?”

 

He looked down at his hands and then back up. He could feel that clawing, furious hunger in the back of his mind again. It was worse when he looked at them. Flicking his eyes away, he tried to focus on answering and nothing else. Don't move closer to them. Don't give in to what it wanted.  
  
 _"I uh... I think I already am? Or at least, the uh... most of it. The really big part."_  
  
He moved towards the picture of him and his team, so long ago. Maureen in the front, shy and nervous, Edward using him as an armrest, Lydia posing like she was a model and not a mathematician, and Barry smiling nervously and caught in the middle of adjusting his glasses. Then he carefully lifted that picture off the wall and held it out.  
  
 _"I had... company. A few days ago, after the last time you were here. I tried to tell Lup about it. They uh... they wanted to meet you. But I'm pretty sure that's a bad idea."_  
  
There. That didn't come out and say it, but it should be enough. He winced and the picture dropped from his hands. It knew what he was doing now. Dammit.   
  
_"Shit. Shit shit shit."_  
  
Barry pulled back. He wouldn't let it hurt them. He wouldn't let it use him like that. The picture would have fallen and the frame smashed if Magnus didn’t lean forward and snatch it out of the air.   
  
“Huh, okaaaaayyy... so that’s you, and hey, that is probably Doctor Miller, and who’s these two?” 

  
Lucretia’s mouth quirked at the corners, not taking her eyes off Barry. She was glad it was Magnus here this time, honestly.

_ "It's really... really wild to think about little Maureen being Doctor Miller now. She was uh... She was practically just a kid back then. I uh..." _   
  
Barry scrambled, trying to figure out how to get the names out without making it angry. Then a worse thought shot through him. What if it found a way to tell Edward and Lydia that things were still going on here?   
  
_ "She managed to learn everyone's uh... how everyone took their coffee in the first week. Which was something, because Edward has the most complicated coffee order I've ever seen. His sister, Lydia, wasn't as bad. She uh... she likes green tea. I always keep some in the kitchen in case they uh... in case they drop by again." _   
  
He stared at them, silently begging them to understand. They had to understand.

Magnus touched their faces under the glass as Barry said their names, “Aw, that’s nice. Did you guys hang out a lot? Our whole team is super close and it’s  _ great _ .”    
  
Lucretia’s eyes were round as she kept staring at Barry-  _ she _ had caught the present tense.

_"Yeah... a... a lot. Edward was uh..."_   
  
Barry tensed but this time it wasn't because of anything but his own past. How much could he say? How much was safe to say? He'd absolutely gotten beat up by guys that looked like Magnus for a lot less than coming right out and saying he liked girls _and_ guys.  
  
 _"We were pretty close. I...uh... I thought. I guess. It’s complicated."_

 

“Oh dunk, was it one of those friends with benefits things? And  _ you _ thought you guys were dating and then there were hurt feelings and yelling and everybody takes a side and game night is ruined for a whole month because he couldn’t use his  _ words _ like a grown up!”    
  
Magnus waved the picture around as Lucretia reached into her pocket and pulled out a notebook, scribbling frantically in her own shorthand.

 

Barry opened and closed his mouth a few times. Nope, he would deal with  _ that _ later,  _ "Something... something like... Sure. I guess." _

 

“Yeah, that  _ always _ sucks.”

 

“Not everyone has your D&D group, Magnus,” muttered Lucretia, still writing.   
  
Barry paused, taking his glasses off and pinching the bridge of his nose. Then he put them back on and looked at the pair in front of him for a long moment. He'd hopefully answered their questions for now. There were things he needed to know.   
  
_ "Is uh... is Lup okay?" _

 

Lucretia looked up from her notes and nodded as Magnus looked over the other pictures, reaching out to touch a few absently, “She’ll be fine, she’s got some chemical burns on her hands and knees, so she’s staying on bed rest until Merle knows they aren’t going to get infected.” 

  
She hesitated and glanced towards the kitchen, “She... asked us to try cleaning up more if we could.”

_ "Oh uh... yeah. She left the stuff in the kitchen. Clean up was uh... a little rough?" _   
  
He looked down at his hands again and then moved into the kitchen,  _ "Don't mind the salt." _

 

They followed him, Magnus casually putting the picture into his pocket before rushing ahead to look down the basement, laughing,   
“Holy  _ shit _ , she knocked this thing right off the hinges.”    
Stooping, he grabbed the scrub from where Lup had dropped it the day before and clattered down the stairs. At the bottom he suddenly turned and yelled back up, “Hey! Are there spiders down here?”

_ ”It’s a basement. Of course it has spiders.” _   
  
He said it and then almost immediately knew he was very, horrifyingly wrong in the strangest way. No, there were no spiders. There was nothing down there that lived. It had consumed them.   
  
_ ”I mean, I think. Probably. I hadn’t uh... been down there until yesterday and uh... Yeah. So... solid maybe.” _

Magnus looked around the low lit room uneasily, but shrugged when he saw the scorch mark on the wall. They were probably mostly dead, right?    
Using the scraper like a broom, he pushed the detritus from the ritual circle to the base of the stairs where the light was heaviest and frowned at the stains left over. 

  
Lucretia hesitantly follows him down eventually, carrying the other jug of bleach Lup had brought, “Anything else to do?”

“Toss that here, and I’ll scrub the shit out of it, and you do the purifying ritual, right?”

Lucretia nodded and carefully poured the jug over what was left of blood stains and chalk marks, trying not to splash too much. When it was empty, Magnus set to scrubbing with a will. 

Barry watched them from the stairs. He winced a little as it tried once again to fight past his control. He moved a little away from the door. He didn’t want to give it a chance to fix the door. It wanted to trap them here and he didn’t know why.   
  


As he moved, Lucretia glanced up at him, “Are there any other parts of the house that might need cleaning?” 

  
_ ”I uh... I haven’t seen anything. I mean, I hadn’t seen it before you came down here the first time. But it still counts for something, right?” _

Lucretia nodded absently, not wanting to speak past the lump in her throat at being back in this place again. Wordlessly, she pulled a flashlight out of her pocket to better make it easier for Magnus to see, and reached into her other pocket to grip her rowan wand.   
  
Peering  into the corners of the basement, she looked for any sign that something was still there... or was it all in Barry now? There was a great thought to have while he was at her back for sure. Clearing her throat she looked back at him, “So Merle has an old projector we can hook up to the generator here, if you still want to watch Star Wars-“   
  
“Who wouldn’t wanna watch Star Wars?”    
  
“- _ if _ you still were interested in that. We have the technology.”

_ "Oh! Yeah, absolutely. I uh... I sort of can't wait to see how movies have like... evolved? It's been a while since I saw one. For uh... for obvious reasons." _   
  
Barry sat on the bottom steps, actively keeping his hands on his knees, one of which was jiggling as if his invisible foot was tapping nervously,  _ "We could uh... make a day of it. I mean, the bathrooms don't work and I uh... I don't have food. But we can figure all that out, right?" _

“That’s not much of a problem, we can bring bottled water,” Lucretia said absently.   
  
“And piss outside!”

  
“ _ MAG _ NUS!”

  
“Whaaaat? Better up a tree than in a dry toilet, right, Barry?”    
  
There was barely any outline left by now under Magnus’ enthusiastic scrubbing, and without the surrounding context the crumbled wax and chalk could almost be mistaken for normal basement detritus.

Barry was laughing at what Magnus said, a huge smile on his face.   
  
_ ”I mean, you could. I’m not stopping you. And I’m pretty sure I don’t have neighbors. Just uh... watch out for poison ivy.” _   
  
It was remarkable to see the basement so clean after so long. It even felt better, brighter. Of course, the force that used to live there was currently inside Barry now, so maybe that wasn’t entirely a good thing. It would be a lot harder to clean him than it was to clean the floor.   
  
_ ”So... What now?” _

 

Lucretia stood, bringing her rowan wand out of her pocket, “just a purification spell, and we’re done down here.” 

The wand glowed with a gentle light that got steadily more and more persistent; holding it horizontal in front of her, Lucretia drew a circle in the air and started writing shining letters and numbers that hung there, seeming to physically push back at the darkness in the corners. The ritual circle (what was left of it) began to smoke at the corners, peeling away and off the concrete with a smell like burning rubber and gasoline. 

 

Barry felt something in his chest contract, pulling away and down and  _ in _ as the light from Lucretia’s spell brushed over him. IT didn’t like any of this one bit.    
  


Her light stayed in place, growing brighter and brighter until it reached a zenith and rolled back into her wand, much quicker, leaving behind nothing but...a basement, old and a little musty, but the malice was no longer palpable.

Barry sighed as the tightness in his chest extended again, unnervingly.

_ “Is uh, is that it? So do you guys need to leave right now, or….?” _

  
It was hard to admit, but after fifty years of solitude and only a few weeks of contact, Barry didn’t want to be alone anymore and he hated the long hours when no one else was here.

Magnus brightened as he swung around to climb the stairs, “Ooh, can we stay? I wanna see the rocket Lup was talking about.”    
  
Lucretia hesitated, her face impassive as she ran along all the  _ waving red flags _ Barry had shown when they first came in, but couldn’t stand up to the combined effort of the hope on Barry’s face and the enthusiasm on Magnus’, “I... suppose I don’t have anything I need to leave to do yet-“    
  
Magnus whooped and chivvied them both up the stairs into the (much brighter even now) kitchen.

Barry laughed at that,  _ ”She uh... she told you about my rocket? Yeah, sure, it’s up in my room.” _   
  
He went vanished for a moment and reappeared halfway up the stairs, forgetting in his excitement how that would feel. He faltered, nearly falling backwards. A wave of dizziness and nausea overtook him and he grabbed for the railing. Instead, he passed through it and vanished.   
  
A moment later, he reappeared on his back in the middle of the living room floor. He was confused, disoriented. He didn’t know how he’d gotten there and for a moment, he wasn’t sure when it was. He sat up, groping blindly at his stomach where he expected to find blood but found nothing. He was fine. He was dead. He was fine.

 

Magnus was close enough to the living room to see Barry wobble, and he jumped forward with a shout, forgetting that he wouldn’t be able to catch him even if he got there in time. This meant that when Barry suddenly appeared it was right under Magnus’ feet. With another yell, he toppled over while trying not to step on or in him.

Barry lay there for a long moment, just staring up at Magnus.    
  
_ "So uh... that... that happens sometimes. The uh... the me ending up on the floor thing. It's just sort of like... a part of my uh... un...life?" _   
  
He pulled himself to his feet and sighed. Then he trudged towards the stairs.    
  
_ "Come on, my room's on the left." _

Magnus bounced up and winced, putting his hand into his pocket and yanking it out again, “Aw shit...”   
There was a slight  _ chink _ from his pants, the muffled sound of glass rubbing against metal.    
“I forgot I put that there...”    
  
He shot Barry an apologetic look as Lucretia frowned at him, “What- ...oh.”   
  
Pulling his pocket away from his body, she reached in and nimbly plucked the picture frame (intact) out, and there was more clinking of glass as it fell to the bottom.

_ "Oh! It's okay. Just uh... just put it all down and I can fix it." _   
  
After exchanging a quick look, Lucretia and Magnus shrugged.  Magnus flipped his pocket inside out, the glass falling to the floor. Then Lucretia set the rest of the picture frame down. Barry motioned for them to move back and he held his hand out, focusing on it. It started to come back together, the glass fusing back into place. Then he froze up and his eyes changed behind his glasses. A slow smirk crossed his face and the photo inside the flame burst into flames, curling in on itself as it blackened.

The sudden flame makes Magnus blink and look up, his fascination with  _ magic!!!! _ interrupted,    
  
“Well, poop. Lucretia?”    
  
He reached out and wrapped an arm around her waist as she looked up and whimpered slightly.    
  
“Hey buddy, sooooo we really wanna stick around and hang? But you seem like you have a  _ lot _ happening right now, and soooo we’re gonna  _ go _ ... catch you later...”    
  
Tugging Lucretia behind him, Magnus started backing nonchalantly for the front door.

 

The creature inside of Barry watched them go, turning his head without moving his body in a way that wouldn't have been physically possible if he still had flesh and bones. When he spoke, it was the creature's voice.   
  
**"Tell Lup I said hello, won't you?"** ****  
  
Then he vanished.

  
“...okay _ BYE! _ ”    
  
Magnus yanked the door shut behind them as he and Lucretia fucking booked it for the car.    
  
“So we  _ definitely _ need professionals now? Cause if I can’t trip on the dude, I don’t think I could punch him.”    
  
This at least got Lucretia to laugh through the drive to the main road, instead of going into hysterics. After calming somewhat, Lucretia used the drive back to set up a meeting (“a council of war.” “No, Magnus.”) with their team and after a minute’s thought, she emailed Maureen Miller too.    
They had enough of the pieces they just needed to put them together.    
  
Maybe there would even be a usable plan at the end


	7. Chapter 7

Maureen Miller was surprised, to say the least, to be called in on a case involving the ghost of her old supervisor. Well, alright, no, she wasn't surprised that he was a ghost if she was being perfectly truthful. Ghosts as a result of murder were common enough. Ghosts as a result of a vicious, brutal, unsolved murder? Of course, he was still haunting his house. That he was still his cheerful self was the surprise. She had assembled her old notebooks from her days working in the calculations lab, left Lucas in charge of her current lab, and gone straight down there ready to do anything she could to help.

* * *

The twins’ living room was full up, Magnus sprawled along the couch snacking on a bowl of pretzels that Taako had put in front of him to keep him out of the kitchen, Lup was sprawled on HIM having been banished from the kitchen until she could bend her knees without wincing, Lucretia was sitting in an overstuffed armchair looking over her notes with a half full glass and a bottle of wine next to her, any person who might reach toward it was met with an icy glare. She had brought another bottle of wine for everyone else, this one? Was HERS. 

Davenport and Merle were at the kitchen table talking quietly, while Taako finished in the kitchen, and it’s Davenport who opens the door when Maureen knocks.    
  
“Come on in, Maureen, we’re going to eat soon. How’ve you been?”

Maureen smiled at Davenport and hung her jacket by the door. She held out a grocery bag.

"Busy as ever, I'm afraid. But I stopped to grab cookies, so consider my contributions to dinner made."   
  
She looked around a little, almost as though she was expecting Barry to be here. Then she shook her head. The locus of the haunting was a limited area. And naturally, they wouldn't want to make a plan of action in front of the entity that was cohabiting with him. She set her notes down on the table.   
  
"This is everything I have left from back then. Notes on the project, photographs, newspaper articles, the... the police report. Everything. I also have a copy of the internal affairs investigation. We had clearance so there was a... cursory investigation to make sure it hadn't been enemy agents. Cold War and all that."

Lucretia stood up as Maureen walked in, holding out her hands in greeting. 

“Maur, it’s been too long. Sorry, I only text you when I need something strange.”    
  
Lup poked Magnus until he sat up like a person and made room on the couch for more people. There was a round of greetings, and Lucretia added her notes to Maureen’s as they slowly spread across the table.    
  
“So, when Magnus and I were there, Barry had a picture of you and him and two elf twins.... what can you tell me about them?”

Maureen took a breath and let it out slowly. 

"Edward and Lydia. They were... well... are brilliant scientists and magical specialists." She went through the stack of papers until she'd found a small, soft-covered photo album and she held it out. "The three of them were my supers on the team since I was an intern. They were all brilliant. It was an honor working with them. But... Well... Lydia had a cruel streak and her brother wasn't much better. They were alright to Barry and... to me, eventually. But everyone else in the lab avoided them like the plague." She chuckled darkly. "There were a few people who used to joke, out of their hearing mind you, that getting stuck working with them was like... like you were trapped in a game show run in hell."

Lucretia poured herself more wine as Magnus leaned forward, clasping his hands. 

“Hey, were Edward and Barry dating?”    
  
Lup choked, Lucretia sighed into her glass and set it down.

Maureen glanced at Lup and then handed Magnus the photo album.

“Well, neither of them ever came right out and said it but... Yes. No one outside the immediate team knew and none of us were going to tell. It being the 60s and us working with government clearance and all that. You understand.”

Magnus flipped through the album, scanning until he saw what he was looking for and tapped the picture, “That’s it, that’s the one the scary Barry burned.” 

Lucretia leaned over his shoulder and nodded, “He kept trying to tell us something about them, and couldn’t. He said he had visitors,” she checked her notes, “and that us meeting them would be a bad idea.”

Maureen leaned in. The only ones in the picture were the four of them. She frowned slightly.

“Well, I certainly haven’t been out there... and I haven’t heard from Edward and Lydia since... Well, since about a year after Barry...”

Lup leaned back and stared at the ceiling, biting at the corner of her lip, “the... whatsits, what’re we calling this thing? Anyway it talked about a ‘master’ and ‘mistress’ too...” 

There was a moment of silence before Taako cleared his throat, “Soooooo, not that it’s a favorite or anything, but ch’boy has seen some, uh, some stuff with, uh with sex and death magic mixing and that shit gets nasty-....”

Maureen had a laugh in her mouth and a smile on her lips, ready to deny the possibility and then both faded. She looked stricken.

"I've been calling it the parasite... But there might be a more accurate word for it with some research..." Then she sighed and looked down at the pictures. She flipped the page and then sighed. "I want to say it isn't possible. I want to say that Edward wouldn't have. And dammit, I can't. I know all three of them well enough to know that the twins absolutely would have if it got them something. They only put up with me being there because I did so much of the grunt work."   
  
She put her head in her hands, thinking back to so long ago. Had it really come to that? He had seemed so lost after... like it had all really meant something to him and yet...

* * *

 

Edward had been so quiet, Lydia too but it was far more noticeable in the usually outgoing Edward. He sat at his desk looking over papers that bore his scrawl and Barry's tidy, blocky text and Maureen set a cup of coffee on the edge of the desk.

"If... if you want to talk to someone. I know I'm only an intern, but I knew him too. And I'm here."

Edward smiled up at her but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Thanks, Maureen. Really. Thank you. I..." He took a breath. "I don't know that I'll be taking you up on it, but know that the offer is appreciated. I just... I can't believe it, you know?"

She leaned against the desk and nodded, her hands on her own mug as she stared down into the depths of her coffee.

"I can't believe they still haven't found anything." Edward tensed slightly and Maureen put a hand on his shoulder. "But I'm sure you don't want to talk about that."

"No... not particularly. I... You know what gets me? Normally, I would have been there. But Lydia asked me to stay home that night. And I just keep thinking... What if I'd been there? You know Barry couldn't do even a bit of magic. Maybe I could've done something." He sighed a little and took a sip of his coffee. "But I suppose we'll never know, now will we?"

Maureen shook her head. Something was tugging at her, some distant thought. But she brushed it off as unimportant.

"Don't beat yourself up over it too hard, alright? And let me know if you need anything, okay?"

“Oh, I will.” He gave her that odd smile again. “Don’t worry about that.”

* * *

Everyone leaned in to look at the page, but Lup snatched it up first, scanning through, the line between her eyebrows getting more and more furrowed.    
  
“What the fuck is this?”    
  
There was a struggle as Taako tried to grab it out of her hand to see, and in the confusion, the paper ended up in Lucretia’s hold.

It was a simple enough picture, just Edward and Barry standing together. Edward was taller than Barry by about six inches, that much was obvious with them standing side by side. He was also much more lithe, almost to the point of skinny though in the graceful Elven way. He had one arm slung casually around Barry's shoulders and Barry was leaning into him. Lydia was in the background of the shot making faces. Maureen was presumably the one behind the camera. It looked like the picture had been taken at Barry's house.    
  
But there was something about the postures that put the scene in question. Something about Edward's hold was less caring and more possessive. Something about Lydia's expression was vicious and not teasing. And Barry looked like he didn’t have a clue.

Lup folded her arms, ears flattened, as the picture was passed around.    
  
“I don’t like it.”    
  
“Yeah no shit, goofus,” Taako muttered and was summarily smacked.    
  
Lucretia ignored them both and pulled out pictures of the basement pre-bleaching.    
  
“Whatever they were doing, it was for both of them, I’m not sure the sex was... as important as the getting close enough to not be suspected.”

Davenport looked those pictures over and his frown deepened.   
  
"I'm glad I called in those specialists now... Taako, I want your opinion on this, but this does look very much like a blood sacrifice ritual to me. I don't suppose you could get your... contact? Find out if this might be necromantic in nature? I don't recognize some of the sigils and well... That would certainly be a reason."   
  
Maureen tensed and looked at the pictures as well.   
  
"I do know that... Edward is a necromancer. Lydia dabbled but she always preferred enchantment."

Lup scoffed, ears still flattened, “and no one bothered to, I dunno, ask around about this? Dude shows up dead on a ritual circle and the idea that ‘oh hey, his coworker who dabbles in necromancy might have a couple ideas’?”   
She threw her hands up, voice going higher and more sarcastic, “Or maybe, I dunno, asking the dude who was killed? It’s not like he was hiding, he’s just... just been there! For deca- FIFTY fucking YEARS, by himself and everyone apparently knows the place is haunted but doesn’t have the decency to figure out why? And we just ask him and have probable cause out of a couple visits! What the fuck?”    
  
There’s a silence as everyone pointedly did not mention the tears leaking out of the corners of Lup’s eyes. Except Magnus who reached an arm out and slung it around her to pull close.    
  
Taako flopped on the couch and leans against her while still only making eye contact with Davenport, “Yeah I could ask him, he’s probably going to be mad I haven’t asked already tee bee aitch.”

Maureen looked down. It hurt when it was put like that. Lup was right of course, but it still hurt. 

* * *

When Barry didn't show up for work on Monday, their supervisor had assumed he was just sick. When Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday passed without so much as a word from him, Maureen had been sent up to his house to see if she could find out what was wrong. She pulled into the driveway and stepped out, looking around for any sign of life. His car was parked in the driveway where it usually sat. The mailbox was open, a few days of mail sticking out of it. As she looked into the mailbox, she the wind picked up around her and the front door to the house banged loudly. Maureen jumped and fumbled her car keys. She bent down to scoop them up and tucked them into her bag, headed towards the porch.

"Barry?" She called uncertainly. "Barry, are you home?"

Pushing the door open further, she stepped inside. The room in front of her was dim, even in the bright light of day. She looked around again and turned to pull one of the curtains open.

"Barry?" She called a bit louder.

Light streamed into the room as she tugged the curtain aside. Then she turned and her hand went to her mouth. Maureen Miller didn't know, would never know, how she had missed the tang of iron that hit her nose. Everything reeked of blood and... and there was a still form soaked in blood in the center of the room, white shirt stained black with it. A chill went through her body and for a moment, it felt like someone's hands had settled on her shoulders.

"Oh... oh no. Oh no."

Maureen ran back out to her car, breathing hard as she tried to figure out what to do. She needed to call the police, she needed to get help, she needed to... She needed to... Shaking her head to try and clear it, she started her car and pulled back out of the long driveway. Barry had a neighbor about a mile down the street. She would just ask him if she could use his phone. As she turned out onto the street, she had the strangest feeling like she could hear someone calling her name. But that was ridiculous.

* * *

  
Maureen flipped through the reports, more for something to do with her hands than anything else. She had long since memorized them.   
  
"I... I don't know. I didn't even know he was there, Lup, or... None of the reports mention him. And for all we know, he wasn't stable or... he was hiding or a thousand other things that are just as likely as the last."   
  
Davenport nodded.   
  
"And the fact that no one cleaned up that ritual until now... that implies a complete failure on the part of the investigators. That should have been cleaned up and purified within a week, not fifty years later." He reached for Lucretia's bottle of wine rather than the communal one. "You said I get one glass and I'm claiming it right now, Lucretia."   
  
Glass of wine in hand, Davenport considered their options.    
  
"It's clear that we need to deal with the entity, the parasite as Doctor Miller has been calling it. Beyond that... is the plan to help this man move on or do we know if he wants to stay? Do we know if he can without the parasite existing? And what exactly do we do about Edward and Lydia?"

“He doesn’t want to-“   
“He got upset when we mentioned exorcists...”   
“Lucretia promised to show him Star Wars, and you can’t break a promise like that!”    
  
The tumble of voices stops as Merle picked up one of Lucretia’s notes,    
  
“Now, I’m not sure about the magic part, but it looks like we know those two are circling back now they know someone is checking up on him,” he leaned back in his chair and looked innocent. “So basically for them all we need is bait.”

Davenport sighed and looked over at Merle. He pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled sharply before responding.   
  
"Are you seriously suggesting that we use someone as... That's absolutely irresponsible and... I hate that you're right. Fine, but there will be a plan. What kind of bait are you thinking about?"   
  
Maureen bit her lower lip for a moment, looking at the pictures spread out on the table. (Memories pressing against the walls she’d… someone had put up)    
  
"Has the parasite given any indication of a target? Other than Barry, of course. Did he say anything about what Edward and Lydia might be after?"

Taako choked out something that sounded like a laugh, “oh yeah, uh, us? Also it knows our names, so THAT’S a cool sitch all around.”    
Lucretia held out her glass to Davenport and waited silently. Lup nodded slowly, thinking back to the few things the- the parasite had said.    
  
“It kept talking about, like, wanting to kill us, giving us to the ‘master and mistress’ so they could have new toys....” she shivered all over, fear and anger warring, and as it generally did, anger won out: 

“What a pair of assholes.”

Maureen looked ill and closed the album.   
  
“Honestly, that sounds like them. And... and... dammit, the police never even looked at them. They had both seemed so upset. To the point they quit, as a matter of fact. They left the lab about a month after. Said there were too many reminders and the higher ups just... they just believed them.”   
  
Davenport took a long sip of the wine, wishing in that moment that he could savor it instead of simply using it to wash the taste of bile out of his mouth.   
  
“We’re not using multiple people as bait. One. One target, and everyone else is ready to make sure the bait doesn’t become victim number two. And a solid plan that Barry knows nothing about. I know you trust him, but I won’t risk the parasite finding out.” He opened his mouth to say more when there was a sharp knock on the door.

Lup had opened her mouth to speak when the knock came and everyone turned suddenly. There was a sense of a giant pressure change and the smell of something like ozone as Taako, Lup, and Lucretia readied spells. A beat, and Merle pulled himself out of his chair, “Yeah, yeah, coming.”    
  
His posture was relaxed, a contrast to the quivering atmosphere around the couch as he opened the door, “Oh hey-“

Three women stood together on the other side of the door, one halfling, one orc, and one Dragonborn. The orc smiled at Merle.   
  
“Just got to town and we were told we’d find Davenport here today? He sent for us. The name’s Killian by the way.”   
  
The Dragonborn woman raised a hand lazily, looking past Merle.   
  
“I’m Carey.”   
  
The third member of their party was staring intently at a console in her hands.   
  
“One of you here had actual physical contact with a malevolent entity, class c. Now I ain’t saying that’s a bad thing. It’s actually kind of exciting, but you’re gonna need a real thorough cleanse.” Pause. “The cedar smoke kind, not the smoothie and diet kind.”   
  
The Dragonborn smiled affectionately.   
  
“And this is Noelle.”

The crackling energy tension drained away from Lucretia and Taako, but there was still a faint sense of it surrounding Lup as Merle invited the three women in, there was a round of names exchanged, and Taako got up to grab food to hand around, and she kept a level eye on Noelle, "I shot a dark ghost full of fire, does that count?"   
  
"Hey, but we all went into the basement-" interjected Magnus, "-hey does that thing measure ghost energy? Is there ghost energy in here right now?"   
  
He was interrupted by Lucretia prodding him until he went to get more chairs.

Noelle ignored Magnus' question, scanning each of them in turn with the device. She was intensely focused on the screen, a little frown of concentration on her face. She scanned Magnus and nodded.   
  
"He's clean. Same for most of the others..."  Then she paused, console focused on Lup. "You touched something, didn't you? Was it an ectoplasmic excretion? Maybe an ethereo-spatial rift? Did you enter a vortex? Did you engage in-?"   
  
"Noelle." Killian cut in sharply. "Just let the girl answer for herself." Then she smiled at Lup. "Don't mind her. She's our resident engineer. Did you touch something paranormal at any point?"

Lup's ears were still flicked back, quivering with tension, and the sense of undischarged lightning kept gathering as Killian -   
  
"For fuck's sake, Lup, she just asked a question!"   
  
Taako's voice snapped her back to herself and Lup shrugged, pretending that she hadn't been debating summoning fire, "Sometimes Barry's gotten corporeal enough I could touch his shoulder, n'stuff."   
  
There's a snicker from Merle's direction and Lup glared. Merle looked utterly innocent which was a true sign of guilt.   
"And I was down in the basement the longest, I guess."

Carey leaned casually against Killian and pulled out a notepad and one of those little golf pencils.   
  
"Okay, back up for a second here. I know there's a class c involved and I know there's something else. Which one is which? Is the class c malevolent named Barry? Because I will level with you right now, I can't take a T5 existential threat named Barry seriously."

Magnus came back with a stack of plates and Taako followed with a platter of jalapeño poppers and a chef salad, "Right, dig into that, ladies, and Lup is gonna be polite and tell the whole story from the top, right?"   
  
Lup sighed and reached for a plate, letting the last of her power drain away from right under her skin,    
  
"Right, so, there's this dude named Barry Bluejeans-  Doctor Miller can back me up on that, legal name and shit- who's been haunting his own house since 1968 where he was killed in some sort of necromancy ritual and despite this he's still sane and mostly normal."   
  
She took a bite of a popper to give herself time to think and Carey to write down her notes.   
  
"....Actually he's ridiculously normal, he's been reading the same books for fifty years and he's got a model rocket in his room, he's a nerd."   
  
Magnus, Merle, and Taako all snicker in unison until Davenport clears his throat, and Lup lets the silence draw out as she finished her popper with dignity.   
  
"And then we went down into his basement where the ritual took place, was never cleaned, and there's....a something, Doctor Miller calls it a parasite, it....looks like him sometimes? It's not though. S'got a creepy voice with all the reverb. It threatened to kill us," a gesture at Lucretia, Taako, and herself, "says it's going to take us back to its master and mistress, and uh, objected when I tried to clean the basement up."   
  
She flopped back into the couch, sipping her wine to clear the burning from her mouth.

Carey took notes through the entire tale and then looked over her notes.    
  
"A fifty year old necromantic ritual that... what? Created a T5 and... I'm gonna classify the other one, Barry, as a T2. He sounds harmless but he's interacted."   
  
Noelle was still staring at her console and she tapped it a few times.   
  
"Did you touch the parasite entity? Has the parasite entity infected anyone? You're calling it a parasite. It's obviously parasitizing someone or something. What's going on?"   
  
Killian was considering something else though.   
  
"A master and a mistress commanding a T5. Well, that's pretty fucked."

Lup squirmed, unsure, and Lucretia took over, "I think it was separate from him and isn't anymore. When we first visited, the parasite attacked us and caused Barry to-"   
  
She glanced back at Lup who shrugged, "Look like he was having a seizure only with lightning? He does poltergeisty shit when he gets upset."   
  
Lucretia nodded and continued, "But when Magnus and I went back," she hesitated, "....he was....trying to tell us something but very obviously couldn't. "   
  
"He had to be really sneaky about it, " Magnus put in, "show us something so we could ask the right questions. But then, uh, he wasn't THERE anymore? He burned a picture he must have thought was important and his voice went different. It's all gravely and he stutters a lot, but then he went all polished and 'oh I'm such a spooky Bond villain."

Noelle lit up with sudden excitement and grabbed her own notebook out of a pocket.   
  
"Are you telling me that the T5 entity is possessing the T2 entity? I need rewrite several theories on the nature of parasitic possession..." Then she looked right at Lup. "Yes or no. Did you have physical contact with... Barry after the parasite entity was inhabiting him? Because if you didn't, then we have a much bigger problem."   
  
Carey nodded and flipped through her notes.   
  
"Upgrade the T2 to a T3, class a. Emotion based, still probably not dangerous. Kill, does this parasite sound like something we've seen before? Like... 5 Years ago, that clean up when Jules joined the team? Back with-"   
  
"With the time release ritual that we had to reverse because some idiot tore a hole into the Astral Plane?"   
  
Noelle looked over, grinning.   
  
"Hey now, you recruited that idiot, so shut up. And I told you, I'm not the one who set that thing up, I'm just the one who triggered it. I found it like that. You two just keep getting distracted every time Jules and I say we should look into it more."

Magnus sat on the edge of the couch, his eyes shining as he listened to them talking and even Taako wasn't pretending to be disinterested anymore, "Okay, wait, you've seen into the Astral Plane? Because that sounds awesome."

Noelle grinned and looked like she was absolutely ready to jump into a story when Carey spoke up instead.   
  
"I'm going to go call the fourth member of our team. She might know something we don't. Now, will one of you please fess up about why you're making the spooky meter go off?"   
  
Killian laughed a little to herself as Carey stepped outside again. Then she went serious.   
  
"It does sound a lot like what we faced then, although that thing didn't pull off parasitization. Mostly it just vomited ectoplasm all over and ruined the upholstery in my car. If it is the same or similar... I wonder if the summoners could be the same..."

“He touched my hand,” Lup blurted from where she was leaned into the couch staring up at the ceiling. “I was.... on the ground, I just fireballed the gollum fucker, and my knees were all torn to shit and he helped me stand up.”    
She gave a small shrug, still not meeting anyone’s eye. “I forgot, it was dark and I was kinda wigging out.”

Noelle nodded. "That would account for it. So, step one is we clean you up and step two, we figure out how to detach a parasitic T5. It's like my senior thesis all over again."   
  
Davenport looked at Noelle oddly and started to open his mouth in a question. Then Killian shook her head. They didn't ask questions when Noelle said things like that. It was just better that way.    
  
Maureen looked up slowly. "What you said before, about not looking into the ritual. About... about not investigating it further. That sounds... I wonder... Do you think that's something they could have caused?" She picked up the internal affairs report. "A scientist working for a classified government project was ritually murdered in his own home and the report is less than 15 pages long. Hell, I've seen pothole reports longer than this."

Her head was pounding, flashes of talking to officers, the way her workplace had just… accepted things…. 

Lucretia tapped her lips with a forefinger, frowning into the middle distance, “Could be... doesn’t sound like a memory spell, you certainly remember enough about it...” she glanced at Taako and Lup for confirmation, and after sharing a glance they both nodded.   
  
“Could be.... a Don’t Notice thing, we used something like that enough when we were kids. Make people glance over and get real disinterested. But-“ He twiddled his fingers around, “That shit is super localized, you’d have to expand the parameters to include not just the geographical area, but anyone who looked at the reports in other areas to stop nosy FBI peeps from coming in and asking uncomfortable questions. You couldn’t keep that up forever....”   
  
“....just long enough for everyone to forget it was important, a month maybe? For the intensive use, then set the markers down and let it wear itself out. A year tops if you had enough outside power,” Lup combed her fingers through her hair and grimaced. “Like what you’d get out of blood magic, wouldn’t even need to be left over from the ritual, just save some of his blood before they killed him.”    
  
Magnus looked green in the face and clenched a fist, “can part of the plan be me punching the elf dude in the face?”

Davenport nodded as well.   
  
"It makes the most sense. And on top of that, they wouldn't even really need it to last long. Just long enough for the investigators to effectively rule out this pair... Edward and Lydia, was it?" Maureen nodded and he continued. "With them ruled out, the case goes cold. No one's going to look into it. That's all they needed." He sighed a little and looked into his nearly empty glass of wine. "Yes, Magnus, I think you can."   
  
The door opened and Carey walked back in, cellphone in hand.   
  
"Julia says, and I quote, 'whoever said bond villain got it in one. That's exactly what that slimy motherfucker sounded like.' So, good on you. We're dealing with the same thing. But older, smarter, and embedded. And it knows the house. And its effectively got a hostage. Idea time?"

Magnus beamed at Carey as Lucretia refilled her glass and poured the last of the bottle into Davenport’s.    
Lup picked at a scab on her arm that was peeking out from under the bandages, “Well, I’ll be the bait for starters,” she rolled her eyes when Taako made a protesting noise, “he trusts me the most and the parasite thing hates it when I throw fire at it, it’s just sense, ok?”    
  
Taako huffed irritably but looked at Killian instead.   
  
“Okay, so how do we kill a Tee whatever the fuck it was. And do you guys have like a ghost strainer so we can separate the good ghost from the bad ghost?”

The look on Noelle's face was like Candlenights had come early and she scrambled around in her bag until she found a sketchpad.   
  
"I don't suppose you're looking for an engineering internship maybe... Because I could absolutely use a lab assistant with exactly that frame of mind. How do you feel about the irrelevance of lab safety protocols?"   
  
The entire time she was talking, she was busily sketching something that had a passing resemblance to a strainer. More like a strainer had a baby with a Stargate, actually. She held it up with a gleam of excitement in her eyes.   
  
"I CALL IT THE ECTO-STRAINER."   
  
"The... the what?" That was Davenport.   
  
"Like... for pasta?" That was Maureen.   
  
"I'll need about three days to build it and it’s going to have to be built off-site and brought in. But this should be able to separate out the T3 from the T5. And then all we need to do is make sure the parasite doesn't infect anyone else. Easy peasy lemon squeezy."

“Okay, first of all, that was my idea, so it should be ‘Ghost Strainer’ TM TAAKO, second of all, I’m already taken but if we want to arrange guest lectures-“    
  
Lup interrupted him firmly, “Is he going to be okay after going through that? Like, intact and-“ snorting from Merle and Magnus, “-SANE after?”

Noelle deflated just slightly for half an instant. Then she grinned broadly.   
  
"Alpha tests. Congratulations, test volunteer number one. I'm gonna build this bad boy and then shove you through it. Seems like a good way we don't destabilize your boyfriend's ectoplasm and also disinfect you at the same time. Oh, and if you notice anything unusual in the next three days, let me know. Rash, fever, dizziness, destabilization of the laws of physics in your general area, new and usual powers, the haunting feeling as though something is standing right behind you at all times, strange voices no one else can hear? Things like that. Got it?"

Lup sighed but didn't argue, "Got it..." Wait. "He's not my-"   
  
"Now, HOLD on, " Magnus reached in their line of sight and waved a hand, "What about the elves? The ones I need to punch? Is she gonna jumped through the ghost strainer thingie BEFORE we use her as bait?"   
  
Taako grimaced, "Yeah, uh, I don't really want some hotshot necromancers showing up at my door expecting me to feed them. Taako runs the kitchen, right?"

“I mean, depends on what order we want to do this in and what kind of sitch we’re planning... If we want to lure a pair of hotshot necromancers, then maybe we don’t want to just yet.” Carey was pacing as she spoke. “Maybe let them think they’re winning and then drop everything we’ve got on them. Otherwise they can just start this whole thing over again, right?”

"I think it's important to know if the parasite is connected to them power-wise in anyway," Lucretia puts in. "If we can destroy them first, great, but not if it's going to backlash on Barry." She paused, taking a long sip from her glass.    
"Also, I do want to point out this is planning a double homicide, just so we're all clear." She waved down Lup's protest, "Yes, they did a hit first, but just so we're clear."

Carey and Killian exchanged a look. Noelle just shrugged. Maureen looked... like a woman who sorely needs a stronger drink. Davenport was the one who spoke up.   
  
“No one said anything about homicide. We can still manage this through some kind of legal channel. Or at least, something that isn’t outright murder... right?”

Lup and Magnus didn't meet anyone's eyes, Taako shrugged, and Lucretia drained her glass and headed for the kitchen,    
"Taako, I know you have the good vodka, what do you have for mixers?"   
He jumped off the couch to follow her, grumbling about how she never put anything back right, and the question went unanswered for a good ten minutes while Lup starting moving the food off the table and clearing plates.

Killian nodded and Carey moved in, helping Lup while Killian steer Noelle out saying something about a supply run. Carey picked up one of the plates and handed it to Lup.   
  
“Hey, I know this is a lot and Noelle can be kind of intense, but if this guy is alright, we’ll make sure he comes out of this a-okay. He’s not the first uh... spectral friend we’ve saved. You’ll see. He’ll be fine, I promise.”

Lup frowned at the plates in her hand but managed to finally look up and give Carey a weak smile as they moved into the kitchen. "That helps....thanks."   
  
As they loaded the dishwasher, Lup shook herself all over, "He just didn't deserve all this, y'know? Not that- shit- nobody ever deserves ritual slaughtering or whatever, but," she waved a hand in frustration, "the only thing he did wrong was date someone who took advantage of him! His idea of trying to scare me out of his house was throw a fuckin' butter knife at me."   
She let out a long breath and concentrated on filling the silverware rack.

“He sounds like a sweetheart.” Carey leaned against the counter. “Listen, I asked the last member of our team to come out and see if she’s got any ideas. I also asked her to bring the second rig Noelle made. See, Jules is like your friend Barry, but we made her a nifty rig so she can project a physical body. Some crazy physics thing Noelle figured out involving using spectral energy and hard light phenomena. I honestly don’t know what half of what she’s saying means.”

The silverware slipped through Lup’s fingers which had gone quite suddenly numb. She gaped at Carey, “She did a what now?”    
She spluttered for a second before actually finding words, “Holy fuck, why isn’t she a Nobel prize winner? Do you even-“    
  
It’s too much, all of it is too much to deal with right now, she can’t even consider focusing on the implications of what Carey just told her, without possibly breaking down in some way.    
  
There’s a rattle as all the dishes in the dishwasher lift a half inch and then drop back.

“Mostly because no one can get Noelle to sit down and write a damn white paper to explain what she’s doing. But it works, so I just sort of accept it. Julia’s going to get here tomorrow, so if you want to take a rig out to your boy, feel free.”    
  
Carey gave Lup a wry grin.   
  
“Have some fun, just don’t tell him we’re working on this. Not yet.”

Lup choked, a blush running up the tips of her ears, but is saved by Taako calling for them to move back into the living room if they want drinks. Running her fingers through her hair, she shoved the vague ideas running through her head under a metaphorical carpet and huffed at Carey, “yeah I got THAT part, I’m not actually big on the idea of spilling my plan to the antagonist.  _ He’s _ supposed to be the Bond villain anyway.”    
  
The atmosphere is a lot less tense now, Lucretia was denied another glass of wine or vodka (she took one look at Maureen’s face and handed her another drink), and everyone else had plates of strawberry short cake and various drinks that are MUCH less potent since Taako made them.    
(Magnus PROBABLY had shortcake under the mound of whipped cream, but you never know)    
  
Taako waved them over and pulled Lup down beside him, “Okay So ch’boy is a genius, obvs, and I need you to acknowledge that before we move any further.”   
  
He points at Noelle, “I asked mad scientist here if her ghost strainer, tmtmtmtm, could boot a living soul out of their body and-“ he flapped a hand in Noelle’s direction

Noelle grinned.    
  
"With a few minor tweaks, absolutely. And I'm a mad engineer. Applied science or nothing."   
  
Taako's grin broadened as Noelle spread a new design out on the table. It was covered in notes in her efficient hand and Taako's more elegant scrawl. Davenport frowned slightly while Maureen very studiously added a whipped cream top to her vodka.   
  
"Alright, I'll bite," Davenport said, after a long moment. "What precisely does that gain us?"

“No murder charges!” They chorused at him, Noelle gleefully, Taako in extreme smugness.    
“It’s not murder if you can put the soul back, right? If they can’t channel through their bodies, they can’t do magic, and these ladies have some sort of soul cages that can trap them until we’ve cured Barold!”    
  
Taako leaned back, radiating smug, “you’re welcome”

Davenport stared at Taako for a long moment.   
  
"You'd better double check with your friend that this isn't going to get us in deep on his side of the equation, but then fine. Sure. Why not. We can remove their souls from their bodies and put them in cages. Sure. Sounds great."   
  
Noelle let out a whoop of excitement and Carey started laughing.   
  
"Okay, okay, so we're doing this. Cool. Kills, why don't you get us some place to crash where Doctor Horrible over here can build her device. We can reconvene once that's done, I guess?" Then Carey looked over at Lup. "I'll make sure to tell Julia to come by and talk to you about everything, okay?"

Taako saluted Davenport and pulled out his phone as he headed for the back door.    
  
Lup gave Carey a weak smile as everyone else started getting up and working out who could drive and who needed to wait or be driven.    
“That’d be cool. Thanks for... all this. Like, in general.”

Carey shrugged and gave her a lazy salute, “Hey, busting ghosts makes for better publicity, but most of ‘em are just people, right? We do our best to, like, help with shit. Just hang tight, we can work this out in the end.”

 


	8. Chapter 8

Julia had taken a red eye flight to get there. It wasn't like she needed to worry all that much about things like sleep or time zones, so she was ready to go when she tossed her suitcases into a rental and headed to the address she'd been texted. 

 

_ This isn't the site of the haunting, so don't worry about any surprises. You're going to go meet the ones who found our new project in the first place. Show them how the rig works and then come meet up with us. _

  
  
She picked up an iced coffee along the way more out of habit than anything else and soon found herself standing outside Lup and Taako's apartment. She adjusted the light device that sat under her jacket like a harness and then knocked, hoping she wasn't too early.

 

__________

Lup hadn’t slept and had barely meditated, there was a fizzing itch under her skin that was just off enough from her usual wired energy that it fed into her anxiety, twitching along her inner lines of power, rubbing them raw and aching. This resulted in a scrubbed clean kitchen, a dusted living room, and she was about to clean the bathroom when Taako opened his door and told her to knock it off until morning or Istus help you, cause _ I sure won’t. _   
  
This drove her to her own room to try to read, which didn’t work because she kept making a list of things to tell Barry about it, which brought up a whole host of things she didn’t want to think about.    
  
Which is why when Julia knocked the door was yanked open and a wild eyed elf woman glared at her and said with a bare amount of civility, “Yes?”

 

Julia looked surprised, one hand still raised. It had been a long flight and she really hoped she had punched the right address into the GPS.    
  
"Are you..." She glanced at her phone for a brief moment. "Lup? Or Taako? I'm Julia Waxmen. Carey Fangbattle told me to come talk to you about your... friend? She said you would be expecting me and really hope I have the right address."   
  
When she shifted, the straps of the device were obvious, one around her waist and two over her shoulders. They seemed to be connecting to something in the back.

 

Lup blinked, her mind unwilling to be yanked from its preferred anxiety thought tracks to ‘coping with new situation’, but she forced it into focus anyway,    
  
“Yes, right, Carey said- sorry,” she rubbed a hand over her eyes and stood to the side. “I’m Lup, hi, I promise I’m not always a dick.”    
  
Closing the door behind Julia, she walked into the kitchen, “You want coffee, or-“ a glance at the cup in the other woman’s hand, “-eggs?”

 

"If you're already cooking, sure. But I don't eat much." She bit her lower lip for a moment and then took her jacket off. "I don't actually know what Carey told you, so I'm just going to assume that she mentioned the whole 'I'm dead' bit. Particularly since she told me to bring the extra kit for your friend. It's in the car."   
  
She stretched idly, looking around, "I mean, I could also just leave it with you, but I figured you might have questions."

 

Lup’s hand jerked a bit as she pulled out the egg carton from the fridge, inhaling slowly to steady herself, “Yeah, she mentioned that,” putting the egg carton down and grabbing a bowl, she offered Julia a tilted smile.    
“It’s still weird, and I’ve been befriending a ghost for almost a month, but y’know.”    
  
Focusing on cracking and mixing the eggs, she tilted her ear towards Julia, “So when were you born?”

 

"Okay, slow down there, I'm not nearly as interesting as your fifty year old friend. I died like... 6 years ago?" she laughed and went to sit, leaning back in her chair. She sent a quick text off just to let Carey know she'd made it alright., "You probably know more interesting historical shit than I do."

 

“Right, cool, good to know, “ Lup searched through the spice cabinet for the ones she needed and added them to her eggs. Grabbing a pan, she set it to heat, “Butter or oil?”

 

"Butter. So, I guess I might as well give you the full briefing on how this thing works, huh?"   
  
She gestured at the harness with a little grin.   
  
"So, I couldn't explain the science if I want to buuuut for the actual practical side. As far as I've been able to figure, it uses my ability to interact with the physical world and sort of.... standardizes and boosts it? So I'm basically physical but definitely not alive. I mean, I can eat and drink and all that. But still a little bit of a cold girl."

 

Butter was flipped onto the pan and sizzled as Lup turned it around to spread it, “Nifty. How does that show up on scanners and shit? Ever tried interacting with spell circles?”

 

"Can't say I have. No one on our team is exactly big with magic. I have played with a whole bunch of Noelle's shit and I punched another ghost once. That was pretty neat. I show up on all of our scanners. That's the main downside. Whiiiich is why I usually don't go out to investigations for the first couple of days. There was one time where Carey was ready to swear up and down that the Spaghetti Warehouse was haunted when it was actually just me standing behind her. That was priceless."   
  
Julia pushed the salt shaker away from her slightly, "I do know I still can't cross a salt circle, in case that's at all important."

 

Lup froze with her hand hovering over the sea salt grinder, and took it away,    
“Oh dunk, thanks for letting me know. “   
  
Pouring the eggs into the pan, she stirred absently, “We should test some stuff while you’re here then, like five of us are magic users.” She stared into the eggs absently, her lack of rest starting to catch up with her.

 

"Worried about what might happen to your friend around magic?" Julia asked it absently, but her mind was ticking away, "Is the lack of sleep worrying about him too or more to do with with the rest of the situation? I read through the notes on the flight. Sounds like you stumbled onto a doozy of a case. I got something like that for my first, but I had also just come uh... " She laughed a little, almost awkwardly. "Literally flying out of a portal they punched into the Astral Plane, screaming my head off and punched the first thing I saw? Lucky for all involved, it was another ghost."

 

Lup snorted a laugh and flipped the pile of eggs. 

  
“Sounds like a story you should tell when Magnus is around, babe. He was so upset when I said I had punched a ghost before him.”  Not meeting Julia’s eyes, she turned and dug around in the fridge for cheese.    
“I mean, the magic stuff is just cause you’re here so why not, right? I wanted to test stuff with Barry but-“ she shrugged and tossed the block of cheese on a cutting board and opens a drawer for a grater. “-shit started getting funky. It’s just been a mess, and now apparently I’ve got necromancy juice all over me, so that’s a fun...Fun thing to think about.”    
  
Pulling out two plates, she divided the eggs and grated cheese over hers. Holding it over Julia’s, she finally met the woman’s eye and raised her eyebrows in question.

 

Julia nodded, grinning, "I'd love cheese. And yeah, I can see how rolling in the necromancy juice doesn't exactly lead to a peaceful night of sleep. If you wanna do some science, I'm game. Assuming you think you're alright without sleep. And if you give me a minute to get the backup out of the car. Mind you, my harness gets roasted and your friend has to wait until Noelle can build another one before he gets to rejoin the corporeal world."   
  
She took the plate of eggs and dug in eagerly. Lup picked at her own eggs, forcing herself to eat some because they are good (of course).    
“Yeah, probably not now, I’ll take a nap or something later and figure out what we’re testing. “   
  
  
"This is delicious. Cooked just right." Julia looked up again. "One thing I don't know, by the way, is whether he'll be able to go everywhere like I can. I'm a weird case? That whole... screaming hole in the planes thing. It really shakes things up." Another few bites of food. "Who's Magnus?"

 

“Oh he’s some dude from the trades department who started hanging around when our research formed and we couldn’t get rid of him,” Lup’s words were flippant but her tone was affectionate. “He actually has some super weird resistance against some kinds of magic so Davenport pulled some strings so he’s a part time assistant on our team. He’s a good dude, I think you’ll like him; most do.”    
  
The question of Barry’s mobility is pointedly avoided, not because Lup hadn’t considered this possibility but because considering it had led her down some uncomfortable thought trails she did NOT want to parse with this (friendly, knowledgeable, and frankly hot) stranger.

 

Julia raised an eyebrow at the description of Magnus, “Magic resistance? Any idea how that interacts with ghosts? He might be able to solve a few of the bets we’ve got going in our office.”

 

“I couldn’t tell you, I wasn’t there when Maggie went to the house to meet Barry. This is a little out of ALL our wheelhouses. I’m more fireballs and energy bursts and all that.”    
  
Finishing her eggs, Julia took a long sip of her iced coffee.   
  
“Okay, so here’s what we’ve figured out so far about the incorporeal turned corporeal and what you’ll need to know for sure. One; No more poltergeist shit. All of that gets channeled into the harness thing. Two;  100% physical, but not entirely alive. Body works mostly but... a little cold, not the best in the heart beat department. I’m pretty sure I’m faking all that, honestly. The rest works. All of it. So no worries there.” 

 

She ticked off each number on her fingers as she counted up. “Three; Injuries are a little weird. I’ve gotten cuts and stuff and they heal but slowly and it seems like it’s more the rig doing it than me. Bandaids are a must. Four; All the traditional ghost blockers are still a bitch. Five; I set off metal detectors like a champ. Noelle can whip up a nifty little card that says its medical though, if your friend can leave and wants to. Let me tell you, there is nothing in this world like going ghost in the TSA line because some asshole white boy refuses to believe that you actually do need the dumb looking harness. Six; It does periodically need to go on the charger. Something to do with an electromagnet the size of my fist. Best to do that at home because the sudden lack of control is going to cause poltergeist outbursts. I trashed a lab doing that once. And an airport. See previous comment about idiot white boys.”

 

Lup set her chin in her hand and watched Julia intently, ears pricked forward in interest. At the end of the list, she tapped her fingernail against her teeth in thought,    
“That sounds.... fuckin amazing, honestly. Even with all the-“ she make a gesture to indicate a world with idiot white boys in it.   
Scooping up the last of her eggs, Lup half closed her eyes in thought, “I didn’t check what his boundaries around the house were, but he tends to, uh, to reset when he... when shit goes down. Like, in the middle of the living room all-“ she waves her hand over her chest, “-bloody and how they found him?”

 

Julia winced and set her iced coffee back down.   
“Ouch. That sounds... not fun.” She was quiet for a moment and then she snapped. “Right, before I forget, you need to get him physical-ish before you try to put him in a harness. Enough to touch. Otherwise, it’s just going to drop off. I’ll leave that problem for you.”

 

Lup pushed the thing down that instantly came to mind at that requirement and stomped on it until it was paste. Lack of sleep, that’s what this was.    
  
Picking her iced coffee back up, Julia swirled it around a little, “Think you could arrange for me to meet Magnus? I’m super curious now and I’d love to see how that interacts.”

  
“Oh totally, couldn’t keep him away on this one. He’ll probably be over later with the rest of the team, he has the van-“    
  
“Who? With the what now?” Taako wandered in, looking artfully rumpled in a sleep shirt and panties that said  **~Nasty~** on the butt. Lup doubted he’d spent less than ten minutes on his hair.    
Taako glanced at Julia, looked at the empty pan and then to Lup, who sighed, “yeah, but you can make your nasty coffee.”    
  
“You owe me that much,” he grumbled and dug in the appropriate cupboard. Finding what he wanted, he flashed a peace symbol at Julia on his way to the tiny espresso machine at the end of the counter.

 

Julia blinked a few times, watching Taako. She took a long sip of her iced coffee, "Morning. I take it you're the brother? Ta... Taako? Right? I'm Julia. Resident ghost expert."   
  


There were a few ways to interpret that last based on the cadence. It could have been ghost expert as in an expert on ghosts but that wasn't how she made it sound. More like ghost-expert, an expert who is a ghost.

 

Taako gave her a much friendlier look as he started grinding his beans and methodically going through all the prep work that Lup vastly preferred leaving to someone else,    
“Hey, right pronunciation on the first try, nice going.” 

  
Julia seemed amused, "I'm here to help out with the whole ghost boy situation."

  
  
He didn’t bother trying to answer until he finished grinding, “yeah great fantastic, because despite the protests my sister doth make, we have no fucking clue what we’re doing here.”

 

"Cool, well, um... Good news, I've got some idea,” She leaned back a bit, watching him go through the coffee process. "Any questions from you? Otherwise, I'm gonna go grab the spare harness and charger from the car for you. I charged it up for you, so it’s good to go."

 

Taako waved a hand, focused on caffeine now, as Lup slid him a plate of eggs. She shrugged at Julia, not sure if the woman was offended enough by Taako for her to bother apologizing or not.    
  
When Julia got up to go, Taako looked up from his drink long enough to shout after her- 

“Hey, if your ghost powers include getting the dude to admit he’s crushing on my sister-“   
  
There was a muffled yelp as the door shut behind her and the sound of scuffling.

Julia started laughing the moment the door slammed. Oh, she was going to enjoy this. When she got back a few minutes later, she had a large suitcase under one arm. She knocked, bracing the case against her side. When Taako opened the door, looking smug and holding his coffee, she grinned,  "To answer the question I think you probably asked, having a physical form might just help. I always find having a physical form is really a solid boost to my confidence, after all."   
  
Taako snorted with laughter and turned around to yell back into the kitchen,  "Hear that, Lulu! You get to smooch his brains out after all."

There’s a clang of a pan being thrown in the sink, the sound of water running, scrubbing noises, and a very loud Not Answering That.   
  
Taako cackled and turned back to Julia’s case, ears flipping forward with interest, “so how long have you been defying the conventions of life and death, yadda yadda?” 

  
  
They chatted for a bit while noisy cleanup noises came from the kitchen. About twenty minutes later, Lup came breezing out, a bag of books thrown over her shoulder, her car keys jingling in her hand,    
“So I dunno if Capnport wants me to tip our hand vis a vee tech, but I’m heading over there if you wanna come.”   
  
Taako’s ears went back as he glared at her, ”And if she doesn’t, you’ll go by yourself?”   
  
Lup met his gaze steadily, “yuuuP,” with a pop on the end.

 

Julia handed Lup the suitcase. It’s surprisingly heavy given how easily she’s been holding it, “I’d love to tag along and meet him, but we don’t want to clue the parasite in that the team is here just yet, I think. I’m a little bit of a  _ dead _ give away.”    
  
She couldn’t help but giggle at the absolutely awful joke and then pulled out her phone,  “Kills sent me the address for the Airbnb, so I can go get a little bit of shut eye. I can give you my number and if you need spooky backup, just text me, okay?”

 

The tension in Lup’s shoulders left when she saw Julia was not going to give her the fight she expected. Smiling gratefully, she took the bag and slung it over her shoulder. Taako got up, grumbling about ass backward stubborn sisters, but headed for the bathroom to put on some clothes.    
  
“I’ll walk you out,” Lup offered, calling back over her shoulder as they walk out the door, “ch’boy has ten minutes or his ass is getting left!”    
  
Slinging her bags in the trunk of her car, Lup made an aborted attempt to go in for a hug, and awkwardly holds out her hand to Julia instead, “Thanks for... well. Thanks.”

 

Julia grinned and shook Lup's hand. She was definitely cold to the touch. Not quite to the point of like ice, but noticeable, "Anytime. Honestly, it's great to meet people who don't freak out about the whole... thing."   
  
She pulled her jacket back on over the harness and headed towards her own car. A few moments later, Taako strode out of the apartment building, armed for battle or whatever in a crop top and skirt with space tights underneath it, two travel mugs in his hand, and a pair of sunglasses on his face. He shoved Lup's mug at her and went around to the other side of the car.   
  
"Let's get this show on the road before ch'boy remembers where he left his sense of self preservation."

  
Lup took hers and gave him a lopsided grin as she sat down and strapped in, “Don’t worry bro-bro, I’ll protect you.”    
  
Taako grumbled something indistinct into his coffee as they drove off. 


	9. Chapter 9

The drive to Barry’s house had gotten familiar enough that Lup is startled to see she’s starting to wear ruts in her usual parking spot. She considered this as she swings both bags onto her shoulders (Taako declined to help with physical labor) and walked up the creaky stairs.    
  
“Hey Barry! I brought the rest of Young Wizards, you finished yet?”

 

Barry poked his head out of his room and smiled. The smears were still evident but they hadn't spread. That had to be good, right? 

 

_ "I did, yeah. I'm a little confused, but I'm... I'm definitely still enjoying them."  _ He stepped out into the hall and grinning, looking at the suitcase.  _ "Decided to uh... have a sleepover? I still haven't figured out the whole running water issue, but if you wanna stay over, that's fine by me." _ __   
  
Taako snorted and took a sip of his coffee before anyone else could comment.

Lup ran her eyes over the smears briefly, an ear flicking back towards Taako when he Didn’t Comment, but forged onwards determinedly, “Nah, it’s a gift. Just, uh, don’t... don’t ask too many questions about where it came from.”    
  
Her eyes flicked down at the smears again, and Taako rolled his eyes and walked towards the bookshelves.    
“Entertain yourselves then, I’m gonna go be bored, elsewhere”    
  
Lup swung the book bag off her shoulder and set it on the stairs, flicking open the briefcase clasps, “Gonna need ya to get real solid for this to work, by the by.”

 

_ "I mean, I can try? I'm not exactly the best at uh... controlling that? But I can definitely try." _   
  
Inside the briefcase was a harness much like the one Julia had been wearing with straps to go around the waist and over the shoulders. In the back was a sort of backpack unit about eight inches in diameter that seemed to whir slightly when jostled. A set of lights across the top of the back showed the battery charge level and a few other basic statistics along with a simple green-for-go status light.   
  
_ "What uh... what exactly is that thing, Lup? It looks like the weirdest suspenders I've ever seen. _ "

 

“You aren’t wrong,” Lup pulled the harness out and shook it into shape. “It’s hopefully gonna help you act like a real boy,” she held it up level with his shoulders, tilting her head in a question. And something of a challenge in her eyes.

 

_ "Like a real boy?" _   
  
Barry looked confused for a moment and tried to focus on being a corporeal boy for now. He'd figure out what she meant by 'real boy' later. It was hard to say exactly what pushed him into being able to go mostly physical in that moment, excited, curiosity, something else. But either way, he managed it.   
  
_ "Okay, what now?" _

 

Lup acted quickly, not sure how long he could keep this up without the- ...well, she wasn’t sure how long it would last, was all. Flipping the straps over his shoulders, she reached around his waist and buckled it, fumbling a little at the end because he did feel real.    
  
Holding her breath, she took a step back, ears pricked, not sure if she needed to do anything to turn it on.... there wasn’t a switch marked.

 

Barry blinked, suddenly looking downright confused. Then his eyes went huge and he took a breath. Then another. Then a third. Then his right hand, shaking, slowly raised to his neck. He could feel his pulse under his fingers. It was faint and it was slow, but it was there.   
  
"Holy...holy shit. Holy shit! Lup! How? How did...? Where- ? I... Holy shit."   
  
His voice sounded less distant now, more real, more there, and the shock and wonder on his face was real. He hugged her tightly and  _ that _ was very much real and solid. Just a little cold.

Lup gasped at the contact and then started giggling in relief and excitement and just- just a lot of feelings. She hugged Barry back tightly, squeezing as hard as she could and trying to make up for half a century of no touch all in one go.    
  
“It’s uh, Cap- my boss has connections? Just- yeah, let’s leave it at that for now, kay?”

 

"No, that's... that's totally... Sure. I'm not uh... not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth, you know? Am... am I alive? I mean, my pulse is a little uh... questionable for a totally alive person, I guess, but uh..."   
  
He didn't pull back right away. He didn't want to. He was so excited, so happy. But then he realized he still had his arms around her and how close their faces were and... and he backed up hurriedly.

 

Lup let go easily (reluctantly) and propped her fists on her hips as if that had been the plan all along, “Uuuuhh, ssssorta. Your poltergeisty shit is being channeled into... a memory? Of being alive? You can breathe and eat and touch, I dunno about sleeping, but it’s,” she waved her hands around, “....better. Dunno about leaving the house, that’s gotta be tested.”

 

"This is amazing!" He ran back to his room and reappeared a moment later with a bright red windbreaker, "Can we try? Leaving, I mean. Uh... going outside? Shit, I haven't been outside in... I don't even think I remember what my backyard looks like."    
  
Without even thinking about it, he grabbed her hand and started towards the stairs. In that moment, Barry was all smiles and excitement.

 

Lup was still trying to get her breath back at the sudden contact when Barry grabbed her hand again and they were off towards the door. She hadn’t actually gone out this one. In fact, most of her exploring had been limited to the living room and kitchen. They passed Taako, who looked  up from the book he was paging through and gave her an ironic salute. Lup managed to stick her tongue out at him before they reached the back door and Barry flung it open.

 

The backdoor off the kitchen let out into a veritable jungle of a backyard. It was up against a forest, which had steadily encroached over the years, and not much else, and the yard had grown wild in the intervening decades. There was an old well off to one side, the pump beside it looking like it had long since broken. The shed was collapsed on one side and the old fire pit was grown over. Even the wooden picnic table had rotten mostly away. Barry stopped by that and ran his hand along the surface of the table with a quiet sigh.   
  
"Guess I need to find the mower, huh?"

 

Lup stopped beside him, not quite willing to let his hand go, “That’s certainly  _ a _ priority, sure.” She glanced at him, less interested in the riotous jungle (which she sort of liked, actually) now that he’d proven he could walk past the boundary, “How you feelin’? No ectoplasmic ropes trying to pull you back?”

 

He stopped then, suddenly realizing he was actually beyond the four walls of his home and hadn't been pulled back. Turning around, he smiled again.   
  
"None. Holy shit, Lup, I can go places. I can... I can... Well, I guess I can't really have my life back but... I can... make a new one?"

 

She let out a long breath she hadn’t quite admitted she’d been holding and grinned back at him, “Hell yeah, you can.”    
There’s more Lup wanted to say, but the words crowded into her throat and lodged there, refusing to move past. So she just smiled and swung their linked hands briefly while looking around at the yard, “I think those wild flowers look a lot better than a lawn, to be honest.”

 

He turned towards her, smiling even now, "You think so? I mean... I could leave them. It's not like I've got neighbors to complain but uh... Huh... I don't know if my allergies are gonna come back or not." He laughed a little. "Guess we'll find out."   
  
The only disconcerting thing as he looked at her was his eyes. The smears of darkness no longer showed on his skin but they were still there, swimming just under the surface in his eyes like a predator waiting in the shadows for the right moment to strike.

Lup stared at him, her happiness draining out of her chest leaving a hollow behind. This was a good thing, a wonderful thing, but.... it wasn’t a quick fix. Any half formed plans in the back of her head had to wait, “Y-yeah, no totally. Just gotta pick and choose there.”    
  
She looked down at their still linked fingers and decided that fuck it, this thing she would keep for now.

 

Barry followed her gaze and then blushed. He looked down, fighting a little smile that curled the corners of his lips up, "Hey Lup? Do you uh... do you maybe wanna stick around for awhile? I could get the... I could fix the pump and get some water flowing into the house again. Then you wouldn't have to leave so early every time... I mean, if you wanted to stay. And I could uh... I'd really like a hand. With the pump. To fix it."

 

Lup bit her lip, squeezing his hand back for the novelty of being able to, “I’d... yeah, I think I’d like that.”    
  
She straightened her shoulders a bit and grinned at him, pushing her worry down, down, back where it wouldn’t show.   
  
“Later, uh, I’ll drive you back into town. See if you don’t have a leash on, you can see what’s changed and shit.”

 

“That sounds great.”    
  
He went towards the shed, still not ready to let go of her hand. He finally had to, with a little bit of chagrin on his face, in order to pull the door open. Bracing himself, he tugged a few times before the door to the shed fell entirely off its hinges.   
  
“Dammit.”   
  
Inside was a mess of dead leaves, mouse nests, spiders webs, and old tools. The lawnmower looked like the tires had long since rotted away and several of the tools had rusted. And that was the half that  _ hadn’t _ fallen over. Barry sighed a little and pushed the webs away, picking up a wrench that hung on the wall.

 

“Probably gonna have to replace everything, babe,” Lup picked her way past what probably used to be a hose, and stared at the ancient mower, “ _ That  _ should have been given an honorable pyre like, twenty years back.”

 

He laughed at that and started walking towards the old pump, "Oh no, that thing gets no honor. It uh... you had to kick it to get it to start and honestly, it was barely worth the effort. I uh... I used to threaten I was gonna replace it with a goat."

 

“Hell yes goats, better for the environment and you could get milk out of them anyway.” Lup kicked lightly at the side of the mower and it settled back with a whumph and a cloud of rust.

Barry laughed. He had the panel on the side of the pump open and was going over the internals carefully.   
  
"See, if I'd said something like that back uh... back in the day, my nearest neighbor would've called me a damn hippie and told me to get off his lawn. Probably with a shotgun."   
  
“Oh, being a hippie is back in vogue again. You get a couple goats, rent them out for grazing, make your own beer and you’re set up to be the worst kind of hipster.” 

  
Barry laughed as he hit one of the pipes and it banged loudly, followed by a squeaking then the pump began running again.   
  
"Can you go try the sink? It uh... it should be working now. No promises it won't be all rust for a few minutes though."

  
There was something of a saunter to Lup’s walk as she went back through the kitchen to the sink. Taako looked up from where he was flipped over a chair, reading one of Barry’s aerospace manuals.    
  
“Did you fucking kiss him yet or what?”    
  
Lup ignored him and turned the handle on the sink. There was a bang and a rattle and the water came... slowly, more of a drizzle than anything, and ran red for a few seconds before going clear.    
Lup watched it all with apparent interest before glancing at Taako, “I’m not kissing him while he’s got a mcfuckin parasite in his head, Taako.”

 

Taako partially closed the book, ears flicking up as a grin crossed his face. "But you admit that you're gonna kiss him. You know, once he gets his paranormally transmitted infection cleaned up."   
  
“Yeah well not all of us get lucky with the first guy we throw tentacle spells at,  _ Taako _ -“ 

 

\----

 

Back outside, Barry closed up the panel and was walking towards the house when he stopped. He tensed for a long moment, closing his eyes tight. Then he blinked rapidly and kept walking towards the house. He pushed the door open, leaning against the doorframe. Lup stopped talking entirely, her ear twitching towards the door, and she smiled brightly (near fake) at Barry as he came in.    
  
"How's it looking?"

  
“Doing great, babe, considering those pipes haven’t been touched in forever.”   
  
Taako mouthed ‘babe’ at her over his book and pulled it up over his face to hide the snickering.

 

Barry gave her a grin, “I am an engineer, you know. I’d like to think that uh... that a man with a degree can fix a water pump.”   
He set the wrench down and opened a cabinet, taking down a glass to fill it with water.   
“Want some?”

 

Lup glared at Taako’s book then walked over to run her hand under the faucet, “Rain check on that one, I’m not totally sure I want to think about what’s been living in there in the meantime.”    
  
She shot him a smile to take the edge off her words, eyes flicking to his pupils and down.

 

Barry looked at the glass of water in his hand and then winced, "Point." He poured it back out into the sink. "Guess I'll have to add that to the todo list."   
He leaned heavily against the counter then, squeezing his eyes shut. For a moment, he wobbled and looked like he was going to fall. Then his eyes opened again and he took a shaky breath,   
"Must uh... must be a curve to getting used to this thing. Did uh... do you know if this whole... corporeal thing has dizzy spells as a possible side effect?"

 

Taako and Lup shared a look; hers worried, his uneasy, “Nnnnot sure, babe... there wasn’t a whole lot of test subjects, yknow?”    
  
She reached a hand out to touch his shoulder lightly, “I’ll ask though, for sure”

He looked up at her and smiled. He was still leaning against the counter for support. The darkness behind his eyes looked like it had faded further back, like it was trying to hide from her.   
  
“Thanks, Lup.” Then he stood straight. “It’s probably just a like... getting used to it thing. You said it was using my uh... my poltergeist energy or something, so maybe that’s it?”

 

“Yeah for sure, “ Lup wasn’t going to question the lack of appearance from Barry’s extra rider, but it still made her uneasy. “Gonna hafta recharge your emotion batteries or whatever.”    
  
A choked noise came from Taako’s direction.    
  
“If you want to... to plan a day trip into town, we can try for that to.”

Barry glanced over at Taako and raised an eyebrow. Taako had gone back to pretending to read and pointedly ignored the look.   
  
"Absolutely. Is uh... is the movie theater still there? I'd love to maybe... uh... I mean... If you wanted, we could maybe see a movie?"   
  
A blush blossomed on his cheeks as he realized that he'd basically just asked her out. Not even basically. That was what he'd just done. Oh shit.

 

“Jeezy  _ CREEZY. _ ”    
Taako slammed down his book and stood up, “That’s _ it _ , I’m  _ out, _ Taako’s  _ donezo!  _ And you-“ he jabbed a finger at Lup who was starting to feel a flush move up her face towards her ears, “-you aren’t allowed back in the car until you-“ he waved his hands in the air, exasperated,  _ “figure your shit out!” _ __   
  
Grabbing his empty travel mug, he flounced an expert amount of flounce, and was out the door before Lup could make her throat work enough to say that she had the keys.

 

Barry watched Taako go, his mouth open in wordless confusion. Then he turned and looked at Lup, "What uh... what exactly just happened? Is he okay? Did... did I do something wrong?"

 

Lup slowly ran her hands up over her face, rubbing them at the most flushed parts, seething. Fine. FINE. Barry’s confusion was entirely too much to deal with on top of everything, but... it wouldn’t be fair to snap at him.    
  
Fucking necromancers and their magical servants or whatever.    
  
Dropping her hands, Lup stared at Barry for a half second, making a decision. She knew it was there, if laying low. But.... it was still him, right? She would have been able to tell, surely? Magical servants who spent their previous encounters being homicidal and smug wouldn’t talk about rusted lawn mowers and goats.    
  
“No, he’s just being an ass. Which is to say, he’s being utterly true to Taako.”

 

Barry glanced towards the door again, feeling particularly self conscious. He’d been in this position, or one uncomfortably like it, before. It had taken ages for Lydia to warm up to the idea that he wasn’t going to split up twin time or whatever. Maybe Taako realized how...   
  
He smiled, hoping the discomfort and confusion wasn't entirely obvious, “Does he do that a lot?”

 

Lup let out a long sigh that felt like it came from the soles of her feet, “oh he’s an asshole, but only where I’m concerned on very special occasions.”    
  
Making up her mind was the hard part, this one was the easy one. She moved from her place at the sink two steps to Barry’s side and took his face in her hands, “Barry, it would be super dope to go to the movies with you, and I’d love it.”    
She kissed him very lightly on the mouth and pulled back, “...but having a third around is no fun if we didn’t invite them together, yknow?”

 

Barry made an inarticulate happy noise that pitched up into a questioning sound. He was the definition of poleaxed in that moment. Then he tried to process all of what she'd just said, "A... a third? Do you mean Taako? Because he definitely doesn't have to come with us. I mean... it's not the 40s any more."   
  
He started to reach for her hand and then grunted. He grimaced, squeezing his eyes shut tight. Stumbling forward, he suddenly caught himself and looked up. His eyes were that shimmer, opalescent darkness now shot through with color.    
  
**"And here I thought we were having just so much fun, Lup."**

 

Lup’s ears flattened, but she stepped forward to grab Barry’s face again, “Yeah, _ you, _ you douchewipe.”   
  
Gripping him tighter, she stared back, fiercely, “I’m coming for you, asshole. I don’t share with people  _ who don’t ask _ .”

 

The creature in Barry's body snarled, the sound more animal than human, and tried to get out of her grip. As it did so, a sensation like biting ants crawled up Lup’s arms, pushing and burning and seeking an opening. She gritted her teeth and tightened her grip,pulling her magic to just outside her skin, even though  _ that _ still burned. When it found it couldn't do that, it swiped at her with one hand, leaving several long, thin cuts on her cheek.   
  
**"Then leave. He's mine."**

 

Lup flinched, her fingers tightening on Barry’s ( _ Barry’s _ ) face rather than loosening. Her face stung, but she couldn’t be bothered to wipe at them for now. That was probably going to be more cleansing work.    
  
Turning back, she bared all her teeth in a mimicry of a smile, “Nah. I like him. You’re being evicted like every bad room mate _ should be.” _

 

**"I can't wait to see your plan."** ****  
It looked down, examining the harness Barry was wearing.   
  
**"Interesting little toy, this. I wonder what would happen if I just... broke it. Maybe wait until he's outside the boundaries and you both have your guard down and see what happens when he goes back to being a spirit off his home ground. How long do you think he would last?"**

 

Lup’s “smile” tucked in at the corners; she honestly hadn’t considered that, and didn’t like the images presented, “Thought you were supposed to run along and tattle to your masters, who says you can do shit to ruin their fun on your own?”

 

It contorted Barry's face in a sneer and then he slumped forward as his knees buckled. The groan that came from his throat was distinctly Barry, though. It had let him go again.

 

Lup caught him and helped him sit on the ground rather than face plant into the linoleum. Slowly she leaned Barry against the kitchen cabinets and curled up next to him, glancing in his eyes and away the whole time. When they’re settled on the old, dirty linoleum, she let out a long breath and held up one of her hands to inspect it. It did seem to be shaking, but the nasty feeling power hadn’t left any physical marks.   
  
“How you feelin’, babe?”

 

Barry put an arm around her, trying to figure out the answer to that question himself, "How uh... how did we... Why are we on the floor? And why do I feel like I got hit by a bus?" Then he blinked, startled. "What happened to your face?"   
  
Very tentatively, he brought one hand to her cheek, hesitating just short of the bleeding cuts, "Lup, did..." Then his eyes widened. "Oh... oh no... It's... it's still... shit..."

 

“Yeah,” Lup winces and touches her face. “Gonna rain check on the movie until we can... can figure that shit out....”    
she leaned her head against his shoulder, which was unnaturally cool, and his shirt felt oddly part of him, but it was a nice padded shoulder and her cheek fit against it comfortably.   
  
“Don’t, uh, don’t...” she went to rub her face and stopped, deciding to pinch the bridge of her nose instead. “Don’t go off the property. I don’t think it’ll try something if I’m not here to watch, but... maybe don’t anyway.”

 

Barry nodded and then closed his eyes, resting his head on hers, "I wish I... I wish I had the slightest bit of a plan. Even anything that looked like a plan. But I guess, if I had the plan then it would know, huh?"

  
“Yeah, ‘fraid that one’s on me to deal with.” Lup closed her eyes too and tried to relax enough to enjoy this closeness. “Probably why it kinda hates me a lot.”    
**There.** Let it hear through Barry’s head; she had it figured out and was gunning for it. Be _ afraid _ , asshole, I’m coming for  _ you _ . 

  
After a moment of silence, Barry smiled, a bright blush crossing his cheeks, "I didn't imagine it, right? You uh... you really did kiss me?"   
  
At that she lifted her head and grinned, “yeah no, that one’s all me too. I’d do it again if you want.”

 

He smiled, the expression tender and uncertain. "I'd like that a lot, Lup."

 

Carefully, Lup reached up and took Barry’s chin between thumb and forefinger and kissed him softly. He returned the kiss, very gently cradling her uninjured cheek with one hand. He was hesitant at first, even shy, until Lup leaned her cheek into his hand, briefly hesitating before opening her mouth and deepening the kiss. If she was going to pull back and it wasn’t Barry looking at her again, she might as well try to give him the best last thing he remembered.    
  
Unfortunately opening her mouth made her cheek twinge and then start stinging intensely. She pulled back with a hiss and put her hand up to it, “Fuck that asshole twice-“

 

Barry winced in sympathy. "Want me to see if maybe there's still a... a first aid kit upstairs? Maybe there's still something good in it to clean those, at least. I don't think alcohol wipes can go bad."

 

Lup shook her head, grinning lopsidedly, “we have a car kit. And I know for sure that’s, uuuuuhhh few years younger than yours,” she reached to the counter to pull herself up, and offered a hand to Barry.

 

He took her hand and stood. Then he remembered his concern from earlier. "You're... uh... you're absolutely sure Taako's not mad at me or anything, right?"

 

She shrugged and moved towards the door, shielding her cheek from the moving air as it started to throb, “Nah, he’s just a fuckin nose, don’t let him fool you with that disaffected act.” Talking hurt now, “.....okay this thing might get him mad but whatever.”    
  
Taako was flopped across the back seat when Lup opened the side door and started digging through the glove box. He sat up with a grin, “so did you get it-“ the grin faded as he saw her face. “Hey, uuuuuuh, Lulu, what the fuck???”

  
“Fake asshole Barry,”’she mumbled, grabbing wet wipes and some neosporin. “Didn’t like me calling him on his bullshit.”

 

\----

 

Barry hung back, leaning against the doorframe. He had kept her words in mind and was honestly a little nervous about even going out the door now. So much for yard work. When Taako turned to look at the house, he waved a little.   
  
A shooting pain followed a shadow across his vision and Barry stumbled, bracing himself against the door. This time, the creature didn't take him over. Instead, the darkness pooled in his eyes and then seemed to seep out of him. For a moment, Barry found himself staring at a shadowed version of himself. Then the parasite shoved him backwards and he fell to the floor with a thud.   
  
**"I can't wait to tell the Master and Mistress about your new friend. I'm sure the Master will be particularly interested."** ****  
  
Then it let out that awful screech noise and ran, moving faster than anything should be able to move. Barry stayed where he was on the ground. His shirt was ripped open and there were a set of claw marks across his chest to match the set on Lup's cheek. He touched the wound gingerly and then stared at his fingers, feeling more than a little sick at the sight of his own blood.

Lup was sitting on the passenger seat while Taako wiped disinfectant over her cuts when the screech jolted through her, seeming to almost skip her ears and just settle right into her brain. Both of them scrambled away from the car in time to see a shadow vanishing into the woods and Barry-   
  
Lup ignored the running “what the _ fuck  _ what  **the** fuck WHAT the fuck” from Taako as she darted back to the porch. Her cheek throbbed in sympathy as she saw Barry staring at blood on his fingers.    
  
“What- no, wait, fuck-“ she held up the loose wipes she’d been holding for Taako, “hold on, let me-“    
  
Taako came up behind her then, looking towards the woods where the shadow had vanished, “WHAT THE FUCK?”

 

Barry looked at Lup, his eyes oddly distant. His pulse, such as it was, seemed overloud in his ears as his gaze dropped back down to the blood on his fingers. He hadn't known he could bleed again. The first touch of the disinfectant wipe to his form brought him back out of the shock of what had just happened. He grabbed her arm, suddenly urgent.   
  
"Lup, you need to go. It... it’s going to tell them. To..." He could talk, he suddenly realized, he could actually speak. It wasn't choking back his words anymore, or threatening to tear out of him at the wrong thing. He wasn't sure if that was better or worse, honestly. "To tell Edward. He'll... he'll kill you. Please, you have to go."   
  
What he didn't know, what he couldn't know, was that the shimmers of darkness and color still swam behind his eyes. It wasn't actively there but it could come back to him at any time. It had left hooks in him, claimed him as its own.

Lup stared at him, focusing on the odd colors in his eyes, “But it’s out of you-...for now- right? It’s not listening?”    
  
Taako turned back to them, ears flared and trembling, “Lup...”   
  
Lup took Barry’s hand, ignoring him, “You can tell us shit now, is it listening?”

 

"It uh... it was stopping me from saying things before. Blocking memories a little too? And... and I can talk now, I remember."   
  
He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to steady himself. Fuck, it was so much. He squeezed Lup's hand, needing that anchor, "I tried to uh... to tell Lucretia and... his name was Magnus, right? The big guy? I tried to tell them and I don't know if they got the hint. Edward and Lydia, my old... teammates. They were the ones that uh... that killed me. For their ritual. They wanted to live forever. Not just... you know, not just like... But forever."

 

“Yeah... yeah, they got that, got enough anyway.” Lup tapped a foot, looking towards the woods before making a decision.    
  
“C’mon, you’re coming back home with us.”    
  


Taako made a pained noise, but Lup just shook her head, “I’m not leaving him here to wait for Parasect or whatever we’re calling it, to come back with back up. We’ll ask Luce to ward the apartment and put salt in the windows until-“ she narrowed her eyes at Taako, still not quite wanting to say it out loud, “-.... until we figure something out.”    
  
Taako’s ears flicked down, but moved up to a neutral position as he nodded slowly, “Yeah, that tracks... I wouldn’t wanna be left here to stew either.”    
  
Reaching down to Barry’s other hand, he wiggled his fingers at him, “c’mon Barold, up you get.”

 

Barry let them help him to his feet. He seemed uneasy but he nodded. He didn't particularly want to be here when Edward and Lydia got here either. He glanced back towards the house for just a moment and then nodded again.    
  
"I was gonna say I should probably uh... pack a bag or something. But I guess that's not really... Yeah... If you're sure this isn't a bad idea, then let's go. I mean... you did just tell me not to leave, Lup."   
  
His tone was more than a little teasing at the end. He'd gotten his feet under him and he was feeling alright. Not dizzy, not disoriented. Just... alright. That probably meant it had been that thing throwing him off. Well, at least that tracked.

“Yeah well, we’ll turn around if you feel a yank back to your original spot or however that works, but since I don’t think you’re interested in breaking THAT yourself, it’s probably okay until spooky guard dog comes back.” 

 

"Breaking..." He looked down at the harness he was wearing and then back at her, alarm in his eyes. "Oh."   
  
He scrubbed at his face with his free hand for a moment. "This is a mess. Yeah... I'll... I'll let you know if it comes back or if I feel anything or whatever   
  
They lead him back to the car, Lup squeezing his hand nervously every few steps, Taako keeping his eye on the woods, but with an ear tilted towards Barry, and waiting for any change.    


 

\-----

  
The Parasite knelt on the tiled floor, head bowed before its Master and Mistress. Edward leaned forward, a drink in one hand and excitement teasing a smile to his lips.   
  
"So, my pet found a new playmate. I suppose I'm going to have to go down there and remind him who he belongs to, aren't I?"   
  
Lydia smiled slowly, considering ways to apply that particular lesson. She was always enjoyed imparting important life lessons, like why they should be obeyed.


	10. Chapter 10

It was a tense and silent drive back home, Lup holding (not clutching) Barry’s hand and texting frantically as she filled Davenport, Lucretia, and the ghost team in on what had happened, including several guesses at what  _ could _ be the cause. Once they reached the house, Taako set off sealing the doors and windows with his alarm spells, the kind that had kept the two of them safe on the road for decades. It had been a while since he felt the need to pull them out again, and Lup felt a twinge of remorse over that.   
  
She focused on cleaning their wounds, mindful of Julia’s talk of slow healing, adding extra bandages to Barry’s chest, lifting the harness straps carefully to prevent them from tugging. Once they were both done, she would go around and add her magic to his, twining the spells tight until their potency increased exponentially. Twin privileges.    
  
Lucretia showed up with Magnus in tow as Taako had finished and was frantically pouring nervous energy into making lunch and Lup was pouring salt along the baseboards. The feeling of her solid wards made them both relax enough to NOT freak out when all four ghost....researchers? Showed up with no previous warning, Noelle bouncing with excitement.

Barry was not at his best with strangers. He was even worse with strangers who were looking at him excitedly like he was a science project. The fact that Noelle had immediately pulled out a meter and was holding it up in front of his face? Really not the greatest.    
  
Noelle was grinning like an absolute idiot as she looked over the meter.   
"Okay, good news. I've got the ecto-strainer done early. Bad news, I don't have the soul scooper attachment done yet. Buuut I think we can work from there."   
  
Julia leaned against the wall and muttered. "She means she cut at least 10 corners and the thing might blow up in the airbnb. But I can confirm I walked through the thing and didn't dissolve or anything. So, it's absolutely ghost-safe."

Lup moved to stand next to, not quite touching,  Barry, just letting him know she was there, “Cool, because if I was all ghost infected before, im probably doubly so now that fucker attacked me.”    
  
The wards around her home were making her alternatively secure and twitchily claustrophobic, and the idea of being able to get any hooks out of Barry ASAP so they could finish this on their own terms was fantastic, explosions or no.

Carey and Killian traded a look. Killian pinched the bridge of her nose.   
  
"Attacked? What sort of attack are we talking about?"   
  
Barry cleared his throat nervously and started to raise his hand. Then he shoved his hands in his pockets instead.   
  
"Scratches, deep ones. It uh... it attacked both of us."   
  
Killian exhaled slowly and took out a small notebook, flipping through it for a moment.   
  
"And it pulled this off while not actively possessing anyone? Don't like that."

Lup shrugged, “mine were from it possessing  _ him _ , “ she laid her hand on Barry’s shoulder and left it there, “I told it to fuck off and it didn’t much appreciate that.”    
  
She wrinkled her nose and winced as it pulled at her bandages, "After that, it uh... it jumped out of me and attacked me."   
  
Julia's head snapped up at that, "It... left? It actually just...  _ left." _ She took a deep breath. "That's either really good or really bad."   
  
"It said it was reporting in..." Barry looked at Lup, an expression akin to guilt on his face. "To go tell Edward what was going on."

Lup’s mouth tightened, but she smoothed her fingers along his sleeve and addressed Killian instead, “I mean, we were going to use me to lure them in anyway, this just ups the time table a little.”  
  
Lucretia groaned from where she had been roped into grating cheese for Taako, “I don’t think this can be called ‘moving up the time table’ as if it was done  _ deliberately _ , Lup.”

Barry's eyes widened. "I'm sorry, did you just say  _ lure? _ As in using you as  _ bait?" _   
  
Carey laughed nervously. "Oops. There goes that cat, right out of the bag."   
  
Killian put her hands together in front of her face for a long moment and then slowly lowered them, exhaling. "Alright, time to clean you both up because we are  _ not _ letting that thing get back and find out that there's an actual plan. Everybody in the van. Noelle, I want that thing running the minute we get back."   
  
"You got it, Kills. And I probably won't even overload the circuit this time."

Lup nodded and went to grab the bag of charms she and Taako kept in the kitchen for Just In Case times. Pointedly ignoring any questions Barry had re; bait, she pushed him gently out the door as Lucretia and Magnus were roped into boxing up and carrying the enormous salad Taako had prepped.

After a short drive, the gang arrived at a small house tucked into a suburban neighborhood. There were a few cars parked in the driveway or in front of the house and Killian pulled the van into an empty spot. Noelle was leaning back in her seat, fiddling with a few bits of wire in her hands.   
  
"Okay, so here's how this is gonna work. You both need to go through the ecto-strainer. You're probably not going to want to. the corruption isn't going to want you to and its going to make you feel like you want to stop. You need to buck up and go through that thing or I'm going to ask Killian show us all how good she was on the softball team in college and turn you into a fastball special. You got me?"

Lup’s ears flattened stubbornly, clenching her fist and relaxing it, “yeah, fuck that, I’ve already had that creep try to tell me shit. “ Her cheek throbbed as she said it, and there was a jolt through her stomach that made her want to take her words back instantly. As she bit her lip and wrestled it down, her anger flared up again. Who the  _ everlovingfuck _ did this... this shitheel summoned shadow and his two bit necromancer bosses think they were telling  _ her _ how to feel??

Barry nodded slowly but he wasn’t as sure as Lup that he was strong enough to do this. Stubborn, maybe. But he’d been fighting this thing when it was inside of him and losing. Was he really going to do any better when it actively knew it was life or death?   
  
Noelle nodded and lead them down into the basement. The device she’d sketched was there, looking as much like a stargate as ever. Pulling a pair of goggles on, she went to the control panel.  
  
“Okay, lovebirds, who’s up first?”  
  
She pulled a lever down and the whole thing sparked and began to hum, almost like a Tesla coil.  
  
“Warning, it’s gonna... let’s go with sting.” She paused then. “And we’ve got about five minutes before the whole grid goes down. So... chop chop.”

Lup strode toward the weird ass stargate, briefly stumbling right before she stepped through, the pit in her stomach yawning open with panic, clamping down on her legs. The sensation of someone  _ else _ trying to pull her back made Lup put her head down and shove through the sparks.

Noelle had undersold the “sting” of the device. It felt like trying to swim laps in a pool with a plugged in toaster in floating in the water with you while ants crawled all over your body. But Lup could feel a certain lightness, a lack of Other, that hadn’t been there before and a tank off to the side seemed to be filling with something brackish and green.   
  
Barry started to follow her, his eyes closed as he walked forward. He pulled up short just in front of the device, inches away, looking like he was going to balk. He stiffened suddenly and his eyes snapped open, as dark as before. 

**"Did you really think it would be that simple? That I would go quietly into that good night? Or did you just forget what I'd said before?"**

Barry, or more accurately the creature controlling him, grabbed at the straps of the harness keeping Barry solid, trying to work the buckles with hands that shook as Barry tried to fight back, tried to regain control of his body. Killian raised one of the electromagnetic pistols Noelle had made for them and leveled it, focused on his chest, but she didn't fire. She gritted her teeth, knowing that if she did, it would fry the harness. Noelle looked up from the console, a frantic look in her eyes.

"Someone get his undead ass through the thing! Working on a timetable here, people!"

The Parasite turned towards Killian, a slow grin crossing Barry's face, the expression nothing like his usual bright smile. 

**"Go ahead, do your worst, hunter. Fry me and this device and see how long he lasts outside his home without the anchor."**

Killian lowered the gun with a curse and shot a look at Carey. Carey was moving alongside the wall, trying to position herself where she could get at Barry with a pair of silver knives in her hands. On the other side of the ecto-strainer, Lup started to raise her hands, flames dancing around her fingers already as the fear rose in her. One of the buckles started to give way, the strap loosening just slightly. At the last moment, before it could fall completely, Taako got right behind Barry and shoved him hard. Barry stumbled forward through the device and fell heavily on his hands and knees on the other side. When he looked up again, his eyes were clear.   
  
Then Taako looked at his hands and sighed, “Yeah, Yeah, I know. Go through the doom portal, Taako. You touched the gross shit too. Ch’boy’s way ahead of you.” He stepped through and stood there for a moment looking disgusted, “The things I do for you, Lulu.”

“And I love you, goofus, I really do,” Lup said as she helped Barry to his feet. Her hair was lifting slightly in a halo around her head. She looked over at Noelle who was typing furiously, “So, ‘sting’ is not the word I would use... how much description do you want for scientific accuracy?”

Killian sighed. "That's probably not even-"   
  
Noelle waved a hand. "Doesn't matter. Go scan yourselves while I shut the system down unless you  _ want _ me to recreate the blackout of '77."   
  
Barry blinked, trying to get his curly hair to lay flat again. "The uh... the what?" He gave up on that and reached for Lup's hand instead.

Lup kept a tight hold of his hand as they walked over to the scanner, reaching instinctively for Taako with her other. She felt.... oddly light headed. The fierce anger of the past few days was still burning in her stomach, but without the desperate edge, the sense of doom that had been lingering at the back of her head. They’d...beaten the thing, right?   
  
The scanner beeped and she blinked, not even noticing when it had turned on. Taako squeezed her hand tightly before letting go to dig a hair pick out of his bag to fix the cloud his hair had become.

The scanner registered that all three of them were clean. No more corruption lingering inside them. They were safe for the first time since they had first opened the door to Barry's basement.   
  
Barry examined the screen, trying to understand what it was saying. He lit up with excitement the moment he realized what the green lights were saying and he turned to hug Lup tightly. "It's gone! It's  _ gone! _ No more shitty roommate!"

Lup threw her arms around Barry’s neck and laughed, surprise and relief making her dizzy. Also? The hug was just  _ nice _ and if they didn’t have an audience she would have definitely added a kiss to it.    
  
Looking over at Noelle and Killian, she raised her eyebrows, “So steps one through three complete, what’s next?”

"The next step is Noelle finishes her soul scooper and you try to keep off the necro-radar until it's done. You've got a few days. Think you can manage it?" Killian seemed uncertain, looking the three of them over.   
  
Barry nodded. "If we... if we just avoid my house, they shouldn't know where to look, right? It's not like either of them know where to find you, Lup. And they can't track me now, right?"   
  
Carey hummed, considering.  _ "Probably _ not. Yeah, that sounds good enough to me."

Lup shrugged, “Luce warded the apartment, and we have the lab protected to hell and back. If we go and stay in THAT for a few hours I doubt anything could pick up our trail after.”    
  
Looping a finger through Barry’s harness, she frowned slightly, “and that’s one way to test how this interacts with magic.... though I dunno how many of those I wanna try while you’re outside your house....”   
  
“We’ll just take Luce with us, they’re mostly her wards, she can make space,” Taako called from his seat with a brush and hand mirror.

Barry nodded. His curls were still practically standing on end and they bounced with movement. "As long as you guys don't mind me crashing with you. I don't want to uh... to impose or anything."   
  
Noelle rolled her eyes. "I'll turn up on your doorstep when the soul scooper is ready. Go make out in not-my-lab already. The sexual tension is setting off some of my sensors."

Taako groaned and stood up, throwing his comb and mirror into his bag, “Yeah  _ you _ can say that... come on lovebirdbrains, let’s get some place with a  _ door _ already.”    
  
Lup detangled herself from Barry with just the amount of slowness to insinuate that she was doing it out of necessity; NOT because someone told her to.   
  
Killian was grabbing the keys to the van, so she sent Barry to follow and leaned over Noelle’s shoulder.    
  
“I know this is great and for science and all but, uh.... thanks anyway. You’ve all been really awesome and I appreciate it, yeah?”

"Hey, any time. And while you're thanking folks, can you give Jules Muscle McGee's number? She's been making eyes at him since they met and I think he's too dense to notice." Noelle grinned wryly. "Any idea if he's into ghosts?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter before the rating goes up y’all ^^


	11. The Sex Chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE RATING HAS GONE UP, LADS. Please note the following; PTSD, implied sexual coercion, bad relationship practices
> 
> also enthusiastic consent and upfront negotiations. Yar be blow jobs.

 

Barry settled into his seat in the van, drumming on his leg. He felt light, free, hopeful, and honestly more than a little nervous. Okay, back that up and try against. Blindingly terrified. Yeah, that was more accurate. His mind jumped back to the flip conversation he'd had with Lup. A little trauma. Yep. Definitely a little there. Every time he closed his eyes now, he was back there on the floor and Edward was holding a knife and that was pretty much definition Barry Is Not Okay. But he was holding it all together for now. They just had to deal with this and then he could afford to break down. But not until this was over.

 

Lup slid into the seat next to him, giggling to herself as she buckled her seat belt and whispered something to Taako which sent them  off into tandem cackling. Leaning back, Lup realized that being between Taako and Barry was a feeling she wanted to just... keep for a while. How in any hell had that happened so fast?   
  
Leaning against Taako’s shoulder, she wrapped her fingers around Barry’s for the rest of the car ride. The euphoria slash dizziness from the ecto-strainer had worn off and now she was just tired, the weight of the day falling down on her.   
Once they were back home, she directed Barry to the bathroom and went to her room to grab a change of clothes.

 

For a long moment, Barry stood in front of the mirror and contemplated the harness he was wearing over his clothes. Okay... First thing's first. Yes, he could undo his jeans. So those were real and physical. Awesome. Next up was the mystery of how exactly to get his shirt off without taking the harness off. Then he realized he didn't know if the harness could get wet. For a very long moment, Barry stood there in his boxers and stared at his own reflection, trying to figure out the best way to say 'hey, I don't know if it's physically possible for me to shower?', before he settled on running the water and dunking his head. If nothing else, he could clean his hair and convince it that gravity was in fact real and something it should obey. Then he pulled his jeans back on and went in search of Lup smelling just slightly like flowers.

 

Lup popped up as the door opened and pushed past him, “Coolcoolcoolbeoutinabit, bye.”   
  
Taako looked up from a spell circle he was drawing at the kitchen table and shrugged, “make yourself comfy, kemosabe, she’s going to be at least forty-five minutes.”   
Since he gestured at the chair opposite him and went back to drawing, it was more obviously a friendly gesture.

 

Barry sat in the empty chair uncertainly, his hands in his lap. He was quiet at first, just watching Taako draw the diagram. Then he opened his mouth to speak. Then he closed it, cleared his throat, and tried again, "You're uh... you're really okay with me staying here, right? Not just... uh... saying you are? Because I don't want to intrude or anything? Or um... assume things?"

 

Taako rolled his eyes and kept focusing on his circle, “Yeah ok _listen_ , Lup’s the bleeding heart, right? She’s the one who picks up hurt puppies in the street and tries to fix ‘em and rehome ‘em, and writes angry letters to our senators and all that shit.”   
  
He finished the circle and took a handful of lavender to place at five points around it.

  
“I’m the one who reminds her that, no, we don’t have food to share, and we’re supposed to be at work the day of that protest and need to make rent, or that if we piss off our landlord because he’s kicking out that mom with the three kids, we’ll be out next.”   
  
He poured a line of pink salt carefully along the lines of the circle.

  
“And once I’ve reminded her, she does it anyway, and I back her up because that’s us, get it? It’s just how we do things.”   
  
He stood up to look at his circle from all angles and nodded in satisfaction.

 

“plus, she’s like... super into you, and she hasn’t been that into a person since Luce. And you’ve been dealt a shitty hand, and we actually have what it takes to help for fuckin’ once.”   
  
Taako held his hands over the circle and there was a sense of the world leaning in, like the feeling of undischarged lightning. The tension built, piling on top of itself, and Taako’s hair flared out again, less like it had in the strainer and more like a heavy wind blowing up from below his chin. The lights flickered, the salt in the circle started glowing a bright magenta before fading. The feeling of the world leaning in lessened, and right before it was gone, Taako leaned forward and blew all his ingredients away into a cloud that flared across the living room and dissipated.   
  
Casually he focused on Barry, “Also if you tell anyone I said that, I’ll deny everything and destroy you, capeesh?”

 

Barry watched the magic in absolute awe and then blinked at the last thing Taako had said, "Oh uh... yeah. Yeah, no. Totally follow that and uh..." Then a soft smile crossed his face. "She really does all that? That's... that's really great."  
  
It was the look of a man who was entirely down to paint protest signs and help nurse puppies; utterly smitten.

 

Taako looked at him for a long moment before shrugging and folding his paper with the circle on it, “Yeah, gotta say it’s a lot easier to deal with now we have a regular job and fr-coworkers and all that noise. So yeah, you can crash on the couch for a while, and I’m not going to be fussed about it. Don’t drink my coffee and we’re cool, my dude.”   
  
It was in fact, a full hour before Lup emerged from the bathroom, steam following her and fogging up several of the picture frames in the living room, a towel wrapped around her head and the fuzziest of robes on. Taako handed her his paper with the spell circle and pointedly went into the bathroom with his own supplies.   
  
Lup pinched the paper between her fingers and it flared up in shades of blue and purple. Wandering over to the table, she pulled out the chair next to Barry and sprawled across the part of the table not taken up by leftover magic supplies.   
  
“Can we agree that today sucked ass?”

 

"I mean... yeah, the vast majority absolutely sucked a whooole lot. But I would say it had uh... There were definitely some upsides to today,” he gave her a shy little smile and then ducked his head, a blush crossing his cheeks. "Although, I think you're gonna have to show me which coffee is Taako's so he doesn't kill me or something. Because he sounded awful serious about that."

 

“Oh my gods,” Lup groaned even as she snaked a hand out to grab Barry’s and lace her fingers with his. “No, you’ll know it, it’s this absolutely awful bougie stuff that costs like twenty bucks an ounce. Mine is in the can with fun art on it, not that minimalist crap.”   
  
Tucking her chin into her hand, she stared at Barry thoughtfully, not quite sure if she should bring up the thoughts moving around at the back of her mind or not, and too tired to try changing the subject.

 

He started laughing at that. "Shit, he would like that though. I just... I like normal coffee? So he definitely doesn't need to worry about me going after that."   
His gaze kept flicking to their intertwined fingers and he would smile every time, almost like he couldn't believe it was happening. Then he blinked.   
  
"I didn't grab pajamas... Shit, I don't even know if I still own pajamas."

 

Lup let out a disbelieving laugh, “Shit, I didn’t even ask Julia how she did the whole clothes sitch. Sorry babe, “ she pulled back, eyeing him and the harness, “If you unbuckle it at one shoulder we could probably manage it like, uh, like a bra, Dunno if me or Taako have anything that will fit you at the shoulders though.”   
  
She clamped down on the idea of suggesting he just go without a shirt. Or pants.

 

Barry stuck his hand under the harness strap, feeling his way along it. It was padded there, surprisingly soft. Almost like lambskin, "That... that might work. And I can just skip a shirt until we can get back up to my place for clothes. And it definitely wouldn't be the first time I've slept in jeans."  
  
He smiled a little then. "I might stay up for a while though... Read or something. You know, before I figure out if I can sleep. You must be exhausted though. Today's been... something."

 

“Mmmmm, yeah.” Lup flicked a glance to the closed bathroom door, before reaching out the hand not laced with his and cupping Barry’s cheek and pulling lightly towards her, “Hey, c’mere.”

 

He leaned into her touch and obeyed without a thought, leaning forward out of his chair as Lup bent forward and kissed him softly, exploring the odd temperature difference, and delighting in the fact that there would be no one looking at her besides Barry when she pulled back.  
Her cheek twinged a bit as her bandages pulled, but it wasn’t that much more annoying than talking and could be safely ignored.   
  
Pulling back only a little, she bumped her forehead against his, “So uh, if you want to crash on the couch, it’s fine, but I’ve got a big bed and don’t mind sharing...”

 

The light blush cross his cheeks brightened and spread until he was very red indeed, "O-oh! I mean... I uh... I... Yeah?" He smiled, resting his head against hers. "Yeah, I'd like that."   
  
They heard a thump, probably Taako dropping something, and Barry sat straight up again.   
  
"Um... unless... I mean..." His eyes flicked to the door of the bathroom.

 

Lup rolled her eyes and stretched in her chair, throwing her hands back until her spine popped, “Bed yes, sex no, I’m wiped out. And he can’t complain at me considering the last time his boy came over. “   
  
Standing, she held out a hand to Barry, a soft smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, “C’mon, babe, let’s figure out how to cuddle around that thing, I’m curious.”

 

Barry took her hand and stood, following her, "Cuddling sounds great. Like the best thing ever."   
  
He followed her to her room, hoping silently that she was right and that he wasn't going to wake up to a very angry Taako. But he shoved that thought aside and instead tried to focus on figuring out how exactly to get his shirt off without taking the harness off, "So... like a bra, huh?"

 

Lup giggled and tugged the bottom of his shirt, “yeah, not a great example if you haven’t... oh shit, and they’ve changed too; man those used to be something... here. One arm pulled through the sleeve first- there, you got it-“   
  
Tugging and encouraging by turns, Lup helped Barry navigate pulling arms in and through and finally got the shirt over his head, knocking his glasses askew. By the time they were done, Barry was laughing. He adjusted his glasses and leaned in to kiss her lightly. "Don't know how I'm gonna get that uh... back on in the morning. But that's a problem for Future Barry." He put his arms around her waist. "Ready for bed?"

 

“Mmmmm-“ Lup draped her arms around his neck and leaned in for a longer kiss. She probably owed Noelle and Julia something for enabling Barry kisses in her life; a whole lot of somethings actually.   
  
Pulling away reluctantly, she shucked off the robe, showing a pair of jellyfish patterned boy shorts and a threadbare pink, white, and blue tank top, “Sorry, babe, but this is an anti sleep jeans household.”

 

He laughed a little, embarrassed. "I mean... I uh... I guess I could sleep in my boxers but uh..." He hesitated slightly and then stripped down to his white cotton boxers. "Now I feel absolutely ridiculous. I thought you should know."

 

Lup grinned, pulling at the waistband out of curiosity and giggling when there is a lack of elastic, “but you’re adorable and I love it.”   
  
Moving her hands up to his harness, she tugged lightly, drawing him across the floor to her bed. It was queen-sized, the quilt spread across it is a diamond pattern in varying shades of red and gold, and the side against the wall is lined with fluffy pillows and plushes of varying species.   
Lup crawled across to the far side and reached out.

 

Barry put both hands on the mattress and then looked at her. "They don't even make mattresses the same anymore." He shook his head, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, "What's next? Am I gonna turn around and find uh... Have you got a robot in the closet or something?" He settled next to her, taking her hand. "I will say, the only thing I'm sort of uh... disappointed about? Is the complete lack of like... hover cars. I was hoping for a... a Jetsons future. Or at least a little Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, you know?"

 

“Nah, but Magnus has a roomba, if you wanna see it. Hover cars aren’t a thing, but self driving ones are. Just not for public sale yet,” Lup laced their fingers together and promptly turned over shoving her back against his front. The straps weren’t so much in the way then, “There’s some pretty cool stuff the Jetsons never thought of.”

 

Barry carefully settled, his arms around her. "Okay, I'll bite... what's a roomba?" He nuzzled into her shoulder, closing his eyes. It felt so good holding her in his arms like this, and the mattress was softer than anything he could remember. He still wasn't entirely sure if corporeal ghosts could sleep, but if he could, then he was absolutely going to soon.

 

Lup closed her eyes, feeling the unnaturally slow beat of Barry’s heart... but it was still there anyway, “Hm? Oh, it’s a little round robot that goes around the house, vacuuming. People get super attached to them, there’s Lore.”   
  
Her voice kept drifting in and out of hearing range as she had trouble concentrating on staying awake. She considered staying at least semi aware enough for meditation, she’d need less of it and Barry certainly wouldn’t need-   
  
That was the last thought she had before falling asleep.

Barry took his glasses off, setting them aside.   
  
"Sounds like... you did get the... the Jetsons future..."   


 

—

  
Barry didn't sleep, exactly. Sleep was something the living did. But he did fade into a half-aware state almost akin to an elven trance. Instead of dreams, his unconscious mind delivered him memories that turned into nightmares as they blended together.   
  
_It was summer and hot, he was laying in the sand with gulls far over head. He could hear laughter nearby. Sitting up, he turned to his left. In the distance, he could see Maureen waving, trying to get his attention and when he turned back, Edward was in front of him. He was smiling and he pushed Barry back to laying down. The sand turned into the hard concrete of the basement floor and then Edward was over him. Barry saw the flash of the blade of the knife in Edward’s hand and-_   
  
He woke up thrashing, his mind in a blind panic. This wasn't his room, his house. Where was he? He pulled away from Lup, trying to figure out where his glasses were.

 

Lup woke up when her ear was clipped by Barry’s flying fist. Coming awake with yowl, she flailed, trying to get on her knees and figure out-  
  
Oh shit, Barry.   
  
Kicking off the blankets, she turned over and reached for his shoulder, “Barry, babe, hey, hold up-“

 

Barry finally got his hands on his glasses and jammed them on, turning towards the sound of her voice. He had a wild look in his eyes for a moment and then... and then he just stopped, shoulders shaking. He looked so very lost in that moment just before he hugged her and started sobbing.

 

Lup’s ears flattened as she wrapped her arms around Barry and held him. Unsure what exactly what he needed most, she tucked her chin against his shoulder and hummed something old and elven and soft, rubbing at his back.

 

"S-sorry... I'm... I'm sorry. I didn't... I'm sorry..." He was still shaking, eyes squeezed shut,  
"Had a... a nightmare..."

“Shhhh, it’s fine, you’re here, it’s okay,” Lup kept humming and trying to keep up a steady stream of soothing phrases, not paying as much attention to the words as focusing on the tone. Carefully, she worked her fingers under Barry’s harness, rubbing at the tension points she found there, “I said trauma, right? It’s no wonder really, first time you sleep you get nightmares, you’re okay, it’s okay-“

 

It took some before he'd calmed down, just leaning against her. He was quiet for a long moment after the tears stopped and then he just very quietly said "Fuck."  
  
Shaking his head a little, he looked at her apologetically. "Sorry I'm a mess. I uh... Shit, did I wake you? Go back to sleep. I'll be alright."

 

“Yeah, fuck that,” Lup’s ears had eased up as Barry quieted, but this sent them flat again, “c’mon, babe, I’ll make you some sleepy tea, chase the bad air away.”   
  
Bouncing around him on the mattress, she grabbed Barry’s hand and pulled him up. Opening her door, she glanced at Taako’s, snorting at the tang of his magic along the door. Coward.   
Walking into the kitchen, she set the kettle to boiling and got out mugs and the loose leaf tea.

 

Barry followed, dropping into a chair as they entered the kitchen. He leaned back, closing his eyes and trying to shake the images out of his head,"Honestly, I'm fine. I just need to... to get over it? Deal with it? It's been fifty years and I'm a big boy, I can deal with a little... nightmare. Absolutely fine." Still, the sound of the kettle was reassuringly real, as was the chair under him. He smiled over at her, trying to look like the picture of calm, "You can go back to bed, really."

 

Lup stared at him as she measured tea into the strainer of her tea pot, holding his gaze firmly, “Are you fuckin- no yeah, that sounds about right. Shit,”   
Shaking her head, she grabbed the kettle and poured water into the teapot, putting the lid one and setting it on the table in between them.   
  
“Look, we don’t- shit what was the word everyone used to use... ‘malingering’. Nobody gets diagnosed with ‘malingering’ anymore. I’m not sayin’ it’s all perfect, but mental health is health, right? Your brain is an organ and can get fucked up same as your bones or a kidney.”   
  
Tapping her nails along the table, she set her chin on her fist and kept holding Barry’s gaze.   
“You were murdered, babe. And you only just remembered it all recently. And if I’m reading all this right, you were murdered by your boyfriend and his sister, who was... was she a friend too? Anyway, it’s fucked up.”

 

Barry fidgeted a little, almost uncomfortable under her direct gaze. Then he looked down. "I mean... Yeah, that's pretty much the uh... the shape of it." He reached for the teapot slowly. Then he stopped. "How did you know that? About... I never told anyone other than..." The slightly panicked look on his face turned into a smile as he relaxed again. "Maureen, of course. I keep forgetting that you guys like... actually know her. It's sort of... wild."  
  
Was he trying to change the topic to something less uncomfortable? He was certainly trying.

 

“You told Magnus and Luce too, you dork,” Lup pushes his hand away, not quite trusting it not to tremble yet. Filling his mug, she pushed it towards him before filling her own. The steam sent out scents of chamomile and lavender, calming and under it the tingle of Merle’s magic just barely hitting the back of her throat and dissipating.  
  
“I should ask Julia if she knows therapists who can... I dunno, deal with this sorta thing... you should talk to a professional for sure....” she stares into her mug, the magic sending soothing feelings through her limbs, “-maybe Merle.”

 

He looked a little uncertain but didn't voice the concerns going through his mind. Raising the mug, he sniff the steam and smiled. "This smells really good."

  
He took a long sip,  "I mean, I guess I can try talking to someone. What's the worst they can do? It's not like my clearance is uh... is good for anything anymore." He laughed a little, trying to sound more alright than he was. But the tea was doing the trick and the tremors in his hands was steadying out while the tension in his shoulders eased.

 

Lup smiled at him, satisfied that he was being soothed. Probably have to tell Merle that one thing he made worked right. “I mean, you could probably talk to a few documentary makers and they’d love you. “  
  
That got a real laugh out of him and he reached for her hand. "Documentaries? Shit, they would be making those, wouldn't they? But it's mostly about the flyboys, right? The ones that uh... that actually went up?" He grinned and laced their fingers together. "I always wanted to be one of them but I could never pass the damn physical."   


“The people on the ground are starting to be looked at closer right now, I should show you the movie about the computer women...” among a thousand other movies.

 

Barry smiled at that. "Good, they deserve it. They...they did most of the work. I mean, the astronauts got the glory, but they were basically strapped to a rocket and uh..." He blushed a little and took another sip of his tea. "Never mind. That's... that's an old rant."

 

Lup giggled and reached out, holding out her other hand palm up in an offer for more contact, “-listen...you don’t need to talk to me about... stuff, if you don’t want to, but you can’t keep that shit locked up, kay babe? Not healthy.”

  
Squeezing her hand gently, he looked down. "I'll talk to someone. I just... I dunno, it feels sort of weird to talk to you about uh... well, I guess he's my ex. Murder is one hell of a break up."

  
Squeezing his hand back, she rubbed a thumb over his knuckles, “Yeah, I get that. And like...the _boy_ friend part at least, that’s better now than it has been in... shit, nearly a hundo years. We were kinda young back then, but-“ Lup shrugged, “Not saying no one will judge you, but Merle’s a dwarf, and they’ve always been way cooler about gender shit than humans, I’m gonna be honest with you.”

  
He leaned closer and raised her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles lightly. "How about I try talking to him? Later. And right now, we finish this tea and maybe go back to uh... to cuddling? That was a good time before we both passed out."

 

It might have been hard for Barry to tell in the low light, but Lup’s eyes had gone round and soft at the gesture, and it took her a few tries to answer. She cleared her throat and took a swig of her tea, trying to get her composure back. Why was he so _good_ on top of everything else??

“Yeah, this is a later thing. We can... yeah, uh, yeah. I’m always a slut for cuddles.”

 

Barry raised an eyebrow. "I'm just gonna go out on a limb and guess that's uh... that doesn't mean what it used to,” he took a long sip of his tea, trying to mask the blush on his own cheeks. He knew that he was having a bit of trouble with the lack of light in the room, but Lup would be at no such disadvantage and the color on his cheeks would be obvious.

 

THAT got a cackle out of Lup, who reluctantly let go of Barry’s hand to pick up the tea pot and pour the rest of it out, saving the leaves for later,  
“Nah, that’s one of those reclaimed phrases, it still means exactly what you’re imagining.”   
  
Rinsing her mug out settled the butterflies in her stomach and she wandered back to the table to tug at Barry until he followed her back into her room. Circumstances aside, everything with him was so... easy. Talking and touching and teasing and falling into affectionate patterns. Lup couldn’t remember a time she found this that easy…

 

Barry finished his tea all in one gulp. "Let me rinse my mug, alright? I'll be right behind you."  
  
When that was done, he followed her back to her room, stretching. "You know, I'm gonna need an old dude to modern translator, I think. Like a dictionary for cool kids. I don't even know if people still say cool."

 

Lup snorted and after a beat started giggling uncontrollably, “oh gods... oh skies above, I’m gonna need to get you a smart phone with the urban dictionary app. Fuck....”   
Still giggling, she threw her arm across her face and spread across the bed, “Things like ‘yeet’ and ‘bae’ and why ‘queer’ always has people fighting....”

 

"That last one's not new. I know that one." He lay down on his side and put an arm around her waist. "I'm not convinced the rest were words." He nuzzled against her shoulder. "Are you actually still tired? Because it's sort of hitting me that I'm not."

 

“Mmmmmmnope,” Lup turned and pushed her face into Barry’s chest, “not running on adrenaline though, that’s cool”

  
Barry laughed, wrapping both arms around her. Then he hissed. They'd forgotten about the bandages on his chest. He shifted a little. "Sorry."

 

Reaching up to run her hands along his shoulders, Lup angled away from his chest, reluctantly, “Y’know, I keep finding ways that parasitic ass has inconvenienced me, personally.”   
One of the hands running along Barry’s shoulder slid up to his cheek to cup it and angle down so Lup could kiss him, thoroughly and with much enjoyment. He returned the kiss, melting into it, and let his hands come to rest on the small of her back.   
  
He was warmer than he'd been before, though still cold to the touch, colder than a human should be. But almost warm, almost felt alive. Lup grinned, making it harder to focus on kissing, but it was just so....good. Keeping one hand on Barry’s cheek, she ran a hand down his chest and  under his waistband. Julia had said but it was always good to check these things.   
  
Pulling back just enough, she grinned at him, “so... yes on getting handsy?”

 

He looked surprised and then a slow grin crossed his face. "I'm sure not gonna say no."

 

A small frown line creased between Lup’s eyes before she slid her hand down to cup him lightly; Julia had NOT been mistaken.

 

A soft whimper escaped his lips at her touch and he moved to kiss her again and again, as he slid one hand up her back, stopping just shy of pushing her tank top up. Barry met her eyes then, almost asking permission.

 

His unspoken question got a grin from her as she leaned forward to kiss the side of his mouth,   
“Hell yeah, babe, take a fuckin’ look.”

 

He pulled back only long enough to pull her tank top off and then moved to kiss the side of her neck, the sensitive place at the curve of her jaw. At least, he assumed it was as sensitive for her as it was for... other people. The stray thought shook him for a moment but he ignored it. He had other, much better things to think about.

 

Lup couldn’t help smiling at his soft noises, running her finger tips up and down his cock as it stood to attention. As Barry worked his way down her neck, she sighed and tilted it to give him better access.   
  
“That’s nice, Bear...”   
  
Laying on her arm was limiting her access, so she pushed up, leaning over Barry, to work along his neck in return, taking a firmer grip on his cock as she moved.

 

Barry didn't consciously realize at first that she was leaning over him, but some part of him knew. The tension in every line of his body returned and he pulled back a little.

 

Lup felt him stiffen under her and pulled away, confused. “Not there, then?” Pulling her hand up, she rested it on his stomach above his waistband.

 

"Wh-what?" He blinked a few times, as confused as she was. "Is uh... is something wrong?"

 

“Wh- babe, you got all tense,” carefully she settled against him, head propped up on her fist, her hand tracing a circle along his belly, “Gotta let me know what’s a no there.”

 

"I mean... I... I liked what you were doing. No complaining from me there." There was a tinge of confusion to his words that grew stronger as he tried to figure out what she meant. "What uh... why would I say no?"

 

Lup blinked slowly, a cold angry feeling settling in her stomach. “Because... I might do something you didn’t like? It’s fine if you want to say ‘no, not there, here instead’ you know...”  The tracing along his stomach stayed gentle, but she didn’t dip down into his pants again.

 

“That’s not what...” he trailed off, meeting her gaze. Then the slightest frown furrowed his brows. “Are you... mad at me?” He sounded almost indignant but there was a hint of worry there. Worry that he’d done something wrong, “Lup, you can do anything you want. I’m not gonna say no.”

 

That made her physically recoil, “Gods abo-no? I don’t want to do ‘whatever I want’. Babe, I want this to be fun for you!”

Flopping back among her pillows, she pulled one in front of her face, wondering if screaming into it would make her feel better. Deciding not, she flipped it down and met Barry’s gaze, “I’m not mad at you. At you.“

 

For a long moment, he was silent, searching for words. Then he understood and he exhaled slowly. "Oh. Oh. I mean, I was... I don't know why I tensed up like that. It's not... That's never..." He took another breath. "I liked what you were doing. A lot. I just..." He looked down.

 

Lup tossed her pillow aside and scooted forward on folded legs, “Okay, that’s fine. You don’t need to give me reasons why, right? Just... just say ‘not like that’ or something.”   
Reaching out, she laced their fingers together, tugging his hand towards her., “I’m not gonna kick you out of bed, or turn and sulk, or- or, I don’t know, set you a punishment for redirecting me. This is _fun_ , can’t we just have _fun_ for an hour?”

 

He smiled, almost laughing. “Yeah, I’ll try. I mean. It’s new? But I’ll try.”  
Barry moved closer, reaching for her other hand as well. “You’re really amazing, you know that? Just so... good? That probably sounds weird. It sounds a little weird now that I said it... but uh...”

 

Lup’s ears flicked back, forward, and flared out a bit as heat crawls up her neck, “it’s not- you’re-“   
She huffed and leaned forward to kiss him firmly on the lips and leave a trail up his jaw, “you too and you deserve it. All of it.”

 

Barry returned the kiss, blushing brightly. Every place her lips touched felt hot, burning against the cold core of him. Desire was humming in his veins and he wrapped one arm around her waist. His other hand went to cup the side of her face, his thumb at the base of her ear. “You’re beautiful.” His voice was a quiet murmur, almost like he didn’t realize he’d spoken aloud.

 

Lup flushed harder, not sure if it was the rumble of Barry’s voice or the hand at her ear, but the tamped heat coiled in her belly came back full force.   
Kissing from his jaw to his ear, she bit it lightly, her free hand skittering down his chest to his waistband and diving below it. After the decidedly not sexy conversation he wasn’t completely hard anymore but she could fix that.

 

Barry kissed her, gently at first then deepening that kiss. It was taking all the control he had to not roll his hips against her hand. Fuck, he wanted this so badly. He wanted to worship at her altar, to express the things he couldn't find words for just yet. The word 'love' flicked through his mind and his eyes widened just slightly. He did, he realized. He did love her. He had known it on some level but now was the first time his mind really put the word to it. He trailed kisses down her neck to her collarbone. "Lup..." He murmured her name, his lips against her skin.

 

Lup gasped at the feeling of his cool mouth moving along her skin, burying her face against Barry’s neck and twisting her hand along his cock. She could feel her own clit hardening, pressing against her shorts.   
  
Whining, she pulled away and pushed gently at Barry until he lay back, scooting down and pulling at his boxers, “fuck, babe, just-“   
  
Boxers- off: dick- out   
  
Lup tossed them somewhere on the floor, and focused on what was in front of her, grinning broadly.

 

Barry squirmed a little under her intense gaze. He knew he was just sort of an average dude and seeing someone like her looking at him like _that_? A smile slowly crossed his face and he reached for her, brushing his fingers lightly over her cheek, “Do you, uh... Like that?”

 

“Yeah...” Lup ran her hand over his cock gently, before leaning down to lick up it, “Yeah, I do-“   
Slowly, she took him into her mouth, working down slowly and pulling back to swirl her tongue around the head.   


“What are you-?”

  
The words were barely out of his mouth before she took him in her mouth and the rest of the question died on his lips. A half-hummed sound of pleasure, the closest a human could get to purring, came from him as his head went back.   
  
“Fuck, Lup.. That’s...”   
  
Good? Amazing? Fucking phenomenal? The words jumbled, refusing to form sense. He ran gentle fingers along her ear with one hand, the other clenched tight in the sheets. His heart was pounding compared to earlier, warmth filling him and threatening to burn through him from the inside out.

 

Lup hummed around him when Barry ran his fingers over her ear, pulling back to lap at him and meet his eyes, “Good?”   
  
Rather than wait for an answer she swallowed him down and began sucking in earnest, following each bob up with a twist of her hand, filled with a sense of determination.

The temperature difference was so odd, but even as she worked at it, Lup could feel the slow pulse of Barry’s heartbeat trying to work more. It was incredibly validating to feel the heat in her mouth increase the more she slid her tongue over his cock.

 

“V-ve-very.”

  
He was shaking with the effort to not rut into her mouth. He whimpered, knowing he wasn’t going to last long like this. Not with her mouth hot and soft around him and not with the expert way she was handling him. He clenched and unclenched his fist, grabbing at the sheets.   
“Lup, I... I’m...”

 

Pulling back Lup reached out her free hand and snagged his wrist, tugging until it rested on the back of her head. She gave him a wink and went down again, humming intently.

 

 _Oh holy shit_   
  
Barry opened and closed his mouth a few times, fingers tangled in her hair. He rocked his hips experimentally, not wanting to hurt her but needing to move, needing that little bit more friction. A moan tangled together with the sounds of her name was on his lips as he came.

 

Lup spluttered slightly as she pulled up, the semen was luke-warm and odd tasting... though maybe that was just it being a while since-   
  
Well. Regardless.   
  
She wiped the back of her hand across her mouth and crawled up to flop next to Barry, “Good shit?”

 

Barry turned to kiss her. "Amazing. Fucking amazing. Can... can I?" He rested a hand on her stomach, tracing idle circles. "I really wanna go down on you, babe. Make you feel as good as I do right now."

 

Lup nuzzled his cheek and pulled her shorts off, sighing as her clit bounced free, “Hell yeah, go nuts.” Taking Barry’s face in her hands, she kissed him slowly, opening her mouth and licking into him, hungrily. Pulling away, she gave him an affectionate smile, “Tell me if something is no, okay?”

 

"I will." He murmured it quietly, kissing the corner of her mouth and then straying kisses down her neck, her collar bone, wandering aimlessly down her body leaving kisses where he pleased until he reached her hips, "Let me know if I do something wrong, okay?"  
He looked up as he spoke, waiting just long enough to be sure she'd heard him before giving into the desire burning in his gut. He wanted to hear her moaning under him so very badly.

 

“Sure sure,” Lup murmured, only because that seemed important to him. Reaching down after him, she curled up to cup Barry’s cheek and catch his mouth in another kiss before leaning back.

 

Barry kissed the curve of her hip, running gentle fingers along her clit. Some distant part of him hoped he was warming up or at least that she enjoyed the chill of his touch, “Can’t wait to taste you, babe,” His gaze flicked up to her face again as he licked a stripe up the length of her clit.

 

Lup’s face burned under Barry’s gaze, ears flared out and low with emotion she wasn’t really in a frame of mind to observe. His mouth was cool but not cold around her, and she let out a long breath as his tongue ran up her. A soft buzzing feeling was running up her limbs and settling into them, warm and affectionate,  
  
“That’s good, Bear...”

 

Barry hummed quietly, watching her responses as he explored her body with mouth and hands. He licked lazy circles around the top of her clit before taking it in his mouth. Despite everything else, his mind just kept coming back to the same point of how warm she was. He pulled back and kissed the inside of her thigh before diving back into her. Every sound she made only encouraged him to do more.

 

As he did so, he was (probably) unintentionally driving Lup utterly mad; his lazy pace, gentle hands, and mouth that never got warmer than her clit served to push Lup right up to the edge and leave her there. When he pulled off to spread kisses along her thighs, she reached down and ran her fingers along his hair,  
  
“Bar-Barry- Bear, babe, please I’m so close I need-“   
  
Sitting up halfway had caused her hips to move against his mouth, and her head lolled back as she ground shallowly into him,   
  
“Please....”

 

A slow smile spread across Barry's face and he picked up his pace. His left hand was hard on her hip, fingers pressing in there as he used that arm for leverage. He was probably going to leave bruises there. He sort of hoped he did. Just as a reminder for her that this had happened, something small and hidden that only they would know about.

 

Lup whined at the back of her throat, thrusting shallowly and clutching at the sheets, as Barry’s faster pace (and clever, clever hands) brought her right up to and over her edge.

 

He kept going, not stopping for so much as a moment until he was sure she done. Gods, he could already feel the tight ball of lust curling in his gut again. It was probably a good thing he was dead because otherwise, he was pretty sure that if they actually had sex and he was alive, his heart would've stopped right then and there.   
  
She arched over him, clamping down to keep from thrusting too hard, and running a shaky hand through his hair as she came down,   
  
“Gods fuckin shit, babe-“

 

Barry grinned up at her and laid on his side with his head resting on her leg. "It is... unbelievably sexy when you beg. I just... I thought you should know."

 

Lup giggled breathlessly, reaching down to pull Barry up far enough where she could sprawl across his chest, “If that’s how you’re going to give head, I’ll beg all you want me to, babe.”

 

Barry laughed and hugged her tightly, then kissed her forehead. "You can't just say things like that. Too sexy. Can't handle it."

Lup nuzzled into his chest, delighted to realize there was a faint sheen and smell of sweat and his heart beat had sped up to almost normal. Filing that away in ‘things to be smug about later’ she tilted her head so Barry could kiss her properly. There was a faint rumble in her own chest as the interrupted night’s sleep and “exercise” caught up with her, a soft purr started up.  
  
“Mmmm, I can say more sexy things if you give me enough time to think them up,” she yawned, the purr in her throat stuttering, and tucked her head against Barry’s neck, playing idly with the straps of his harness.

 

Barry smiled and nuzzled against her. Closing his eyes, he traced lazy patterns on her skin and hummed low in his throat, the sound not quite a purr but close, relaxed and calm, "I'd like that, Lup."  
He kissed the top of her head as she yawned again, "Did I wear you out?"

  
“Completely drained,” Lup held up a hand, limp at the wrist, “you’ve sucked all the energy right out of me.”   
  
Giggling, she kissed the side of Barry’s neck and closed her eyes, purr going soft.


	12. Chapter 12

Barry woke up in the morning early like he always used to and he smiled. It was amazing how quickly his circadian rhythm had reset to his old normal. He kissed Lup's forehead gently and reached for his glasses.  Lup stirred, coming to awareness slowly. She was laying across a body... yes, that was good, the smell was odd but  _ right _ , she was in her own bed-   
  
She cracked an eye open as Barry moved to reach for his glasses, and tugged at him,    
“No, s’too early. Stay....”

Barry hugged Lup, snuggling close. "Don't want wake-up coffee then?" He kissed her forehead again and then leaned down to kiss her nose. "Because I was gonna go figure out your coffeemaker and uh... and well, I guess it wouldn't be much of a surprise now."

Lup muttered and tilted her head back to kiss him for real, morning breath or no,    
“Fuck you for being sweet. Ugh,  _ fine _ .”    
  
Sitting up, she stretched dramatically, perhaps intentionally pushing her chest out a little so sue her. Climbing out of bed and finding something to wear from the clean clothes chair was easier once she was up and moving.   
  
Barry kissed her once more and then went to pull his jeans back on. He was definitely going to need to get some new clothes so he wasn't wearing the same thing everyday. This would be alright for now, but pretty soon it was going to be a problem.   
  
"Maybe next time I uh... I won't. How about that? I'll just let you sleep in all day and neither of us will get any coffee."   
  
His tone was teasing and he grinned at her as he adjusted his glasses after pulling a shirt on over the harness.  
  
“Okay but I wasn’t planning on keeping you in bed all day for   _ sleeping _ -“ Lup made sure to pat his butt as she passed, delighting in the way he jumped and blushed happily, “Ima pee, the coffee is in the cupboard above the coffee maker, and the espresso machine looks like a mad scientist thing which you can ignore.”

"C-Cream and sugar?"    
  
“There’s a couple flavored creamers in the fridge, surprise me. No sugars fine.”

Barry mouthed the words 'flavored creamers' and then stared at her in abject horror. "Do you have  _ normal _ cream?"

Lup giggled and opened the door to the bathroom, “whipping cream in the fridge door.”    
  
Taako opened his bedroom door just in time to see the bathroom closing, and muttered a curse that wasn’t quite coherent. Glancing at Barry, he tilted an ear towards the kitchen, “ -‘fee?”

Barry's eyes widened slightly and he smoothed his curly hair down hoping he didn't look entirely disheveled. "Uh yeah. I was... just going to uh... to make some coffee. Not yours. Lup's. I know which is which." He was just a little on edge, trying and failing to look calm as he moved towards the kitchen and opened the cabinet she'd mentioned the night before.

Taako waved a hand, mumbling something as he reached past Barry to grab the can that had a series of sticker labels on it;    
~~**Taako’s Magical Brew~** ~~   
  
~~**Taako’s disgusting wake up bean juice** ~~   
  
**Taako’s Fuck Your Pleb Taste Lulu**   
  
“S’fine, you want real cream too, right?” Taako opened the fridge and pointed to the carton of whipping cream sat next to the various condiments, “Lu’s a fuckin’ monster about that flavored shit.”

"I uh... I mean..." He looked at the whipping cream skeptically. "You know what, I'm gonna just skip the cream for now." 

He took down the other can of coffee and started examining the coffeemaker. It was a coffee maker. It couldn't be that complicated, fifty years or no. He was a rocket scientist, dammit. He could make a pot of coffee. With a little 'hah!' of victory, he got the whole thing running and went to get mugs.

Taako kept an ear bent toward Barry as the other man fiddled with the coffee maker, grinning to himself when Barry is victorious. He’d already drawn a shot when Lup came out of the bathroom, humming happily, and giving Taako a side hug as she passed,    
  
“Bathroom’s free!” It was practically a chirp. 

Taako snorted and poured his shot, “Gods, you’re gross.” The way he leaned into her hug gave lie to his words and he scooped up his coffee cup before wandering off towards the bathroom.

Barry had found a vanilla creamer that seemed alright and finished making Lup's coffee. He just put a bit of sugar in his own. He pressed the mug into her hands and kissed her. "Here you go. I'd offer breakfast too, but uh... unless you want to join me in death, we're both better off if I don't cook."

Lup grinned into the kiss, her ears pricking up in the most excellent of moods,    
“I’ll make some French toast and bacon, you can cut bread, right?”

"Yeah, sure, I can do that." He took a sip of his own coffee and set the mug down on the table to grab the bread and a knife.

Lup handed him an appropriate cutting board, and walked to the fridge to gather supplies. And if she hummed a bouncy tune and had a tendency to swing her hips as she walked, well, that was no one’s business but her own.   
  
Taako joined them in the kitchen a few minutes later and said nothing beyond rolling his eyes and pretending not to grin. He grabbed the carton of eggs from Lup and started mixing scrambled eggs and started grilling Barry on the types of movies and music he preferred, making occasional light jabs at his taste, and working out with Lup what the list of things they needed to start with to fill Barry in on fifty years of pop culture should look like.

Barry's preferences skewed heavily towards sci-fi films. In fact, the last movie he'd seen in the theater ("On opening night. It was amazing.") was 2001 A Space Odyssey. Amusingly enough, his musical preferences were aggressively country ("Patsy Cline was one of the greatest singers I've ever heard. Seriously, I've got some of her records if you wanna hear it.").    
  
With the bread sliced, he settled in to drink his coffee. He was starting to relax around Taako again, seemingly realizing at least on some level that Taako was alright with everything that had happened. That Taako wasn't going to be another Lydia.  _ That _ was something he was immensely grateful for.

By the time Lup slid them both plates of toast and Taako loaded up a platter of bacon and eggs for everyone to grab off of, the atmosphere was relaxed and almost festive. Lup and Taako’s affectionate banter ran along comfortably worn, familiar lines, but turned slightly to offer Barry a way in, to prod at his sense of humor and how fast he was on the uptake.    
  
Taako finished first, saying he actually  _ had _ plans this morning “Before you two started, but thank Istus, seeya at work, Lulu.” And Lup moved to clean the kitchen while he took over the bathroom again.    
  
“So we gotta couple hours before heading to the lab, any requests for movies or visiting somewhere?”

“I... I don’t even know.” He hesitated then. “Okay, I do have one question. Taako made a Star Trek joke and I didn’t get it? Something about... about lens flare and Kirk? Did they remake Star Trek or something?”

Lup threw back her head and laughed  _ hard _ , “oh  _ man _ .... ye gods and Jesus and Mary and Joseph. There’s been, holy shit... five... _ six _ but we don’t talk about Enterprise, new shows, and fuck I forget the number of movies. I think we’re on eleven.”    
  
Rinsing the plates and stacking them, Lup snagged Barry’s hand and pulled him towards her room, “C’mon, we can start on Next Gen, and once you know enough we can skip to the  _ good _ series.”

"Holy shit, it didn't get cancelled? They made more!" Barry followed her, a smile on his face. "You're gonna laugh but uh... Maureen and I used to joke around in the lab? Like uh... like it was Starfleet. Calling the coffeemaker a replicator. Stupid stuff. But it was a lot of fun."

“Oh shit, yeah, it got cancelled for like... a decade? But then Star Wars came out and everyone wanted more and they made..... The Next Generation!” Lup dug out her laptop, and booted up Netflix, grinning at him affectionately.    
  
“You gotta tell that one to Luce, she’ll love it. She had some stories about fighting with her about the best captains- aha!”    
  
Clicking through, she arranged her laptop on its cooling tray and patted the bed beside her, “c’mon. Cuddle time.”

Barry settled onto the bed and put an arm around Lup, kiss her cheek. He was very about casual affection and that fact that she seemed to be too was big for him. That had been something missing...before. 

"We uh... we had a bet on about how long it would take a tribble infestation to actually take over the whole lab. So," he grinned hugely now and adjusted his glasses, looking exceedingly pleased with himself. "I figured out how to make something like that. Just a... a little cute fuzzy thing, right? And I left a couple around the lunch room and counted how many I found on people's desks later. Lydia took  _ seven _ by herself. I won the bet, by the way. I said it would take two hours or less. She thought it would take a whole day."

Lup snorted, bumping her shoulder against him, and casually stuffing down the rage that wanted to climb out her throat at the mention of... of his  _ coworker _ .    
  
_ Not now _ she thought to herself, pushing the fire into embers,  _ save it for LATER- _   
  
“You terror; try that in OUR lab and Magnus will hoard them all.” The theme music started up, and Lup let her head fall back against Barry’s arm. He wasn’t more than lukewarm, but it was comfortable and his heart was  _ there _ . He was nicely padded, she decided, perfect to lay on and against and hold.

Barry chuckled quietly, the sound rumbling in his chest. "I almost want to try. How many of the little guys do you think Magnus can carry?"

“Like fifty, he’d stuff them in his pockets.”   
  
He liked the way she fit in his arms, against him. It felt  _ right _ in a way very few things in his life or death had ever been. He kissed her temple gently and then turned to pay attention to the show. It was a little weird thinking about the things he used to do, about how they used to fight with the antennae on the TV to try and watch shows, when he was laying with his arm around her watching a show on some kind of tiny computer. But he pushed the weirdness away. It was temporal culture shock. Nothing else.   
  
It took an entire episode before he was  introduced to the tv problems of the future when the second episode failed to buffer several times, and Lup kept hitting the pause button and grumbling. Another, less familiar one, was that of auto play; about half way through the third episode when Tasha Yar is about to start a fight for her life, Lup’s phone chimed an alarm and she flailed for it cursing.    
  
“Shit, I’m late for being an adult today, why the fuck-“

"Wait what?" Barry turned to look at her phone. Then he shook his head. "We can watch the rest tonight, right?"   
  
He was already moving, headed towards the door of the apartment. He stopped then. "Huh... I hope they don't mind that I don't have shoes."

Lup looked up from where she was struggling into a bra while trying to shimmy a pair of pants up at the same time,    
“Oh yeah, there’s like seven seasons, we’ll be watching that a while- hmm. Probably should stop somewhere for shoes, Davenport gets all,” she waved her hands dramatically, bra still partially rucked up , “ _ Conscious _ about lab safety.”

Barry laughed a little, coming back to help her. "Lab safety is important, Lup. I mean, unless you want to be like... I don't know, the Wasp. Do you want to be an Avenger, babe?" He sounded mock serious for a moment and then started laughing again. "No, wait, that's uh.... that's not a very compelling argument. I think that's the opposite of my point."

“Janet is  _ amazing _ and I would be proud to fight alongside her,” Lup lifted her hands to make it easier for Barry to pull her bra down and maybe leaned into his touch as he did whatever it’s not a  _ thing _ , “There’s a strip mall on the way to campus, I’ll grab you a pair of Skechers.”

Barry kissed her lightly. "I'm gonna just assume those are shoes and focus on being happy you know who Jan Van Dyne is."

“Well  _ duh _ , we used to lift those off uh.... you know what, you don’t need to know my sordid past, “ Lup shops at him, grabbing her bag and clearance badge off her desk.   
  
  
The trip to the lab campus is quick, Lup and Taako’s apartment being on the very edge of student housing. Making a pit stop to grab some shoes and a pair of socks doesn’t take more than ten minutes and ok maybe she was looking for cheap but the shit eating grin Lup gives Barry when she hands him the box suggests she  _ might _ be tweaking his sensibilities a little bit.    
  
Once they’re parked, Lup laced her fingers in his and tugged him towards reception, “Come on, let’s get you a visitor’s pass, and then you can see some of the cool toys we play with.”

Barry was still looking skeptically at the brightly colored sneakers he was wearing. Alright... they  _ were _ comfortable. "Yeah, sure. Do uh... do they need my ID or anything?" He pulled a beat-up old leather wallet out of his back pocket. It had about $4 in very old but quite new looking bills along with a driver's license that had long since expired and a government ID card that had  _ also _ long since expired.    
  
"I'm about uh... 90% sure I don't have one that works."

Lup waved a hand, pulling him to the desk, “Hey Rennnnnn, darling-sweetie, this is the special case we’ve been talking about, he has ID but it’s not recent.”    
  
The drow woman looked up at their approach and gave Lup a Look, “You should leave that act to Taako, hun.” Glancing past her, she gave Barry a much friendlier smile, “pleased t’meet you, Barry, right?”

Barry smiled a little and held out his government ID, the one that had an awkward looking black and white photo of him along with a clearance level and his name, “Does this work?”

Ren took his ID and her eyebrows shot up, “Goodness, I should make a copy of this just for the archives’ sake.”    
  
Flipping it back and forth she took it to the scanner, there was a hum before she handed it back and gestured Barry to a spot next to her computer, “Smile, hun.”

Barry went where he was told and smiled. The picture came out blurry and indistinct. There was definitely someone there. Someone with a pale shirt and glasses and dark hair, but the photo was too blurry to actually identify Barry in it.

Ren raised her eyebrows at the picture that printed but handed it on a lanyard to Barry, saving another Look for Lup, who smiled her most charming at her,    
  
“It’s  _ science _ , Ren, we’re experimenting with shit.”    
  
“Uh- _ huh _ ... y’all have a nice day now!”

Barry looked down at the ID and then smiled a little sheepishly. "Sorry about uh... Yeah..."   
  
He pulled the lanyard on over his head and turned to look at Lup. "So does everyone here know about the whole uh... you know... ex-alive thing?"

Lup laced her fingers in his and pulled him along the hallway,    
  
“Oh, just the people who need to, I asked for a couple of paid, uuuuh field work days to visit, and Ren does  _ everything _ don’t let the receptionist job fool you. That just means she can eyeball everyone who comes and goes.”

She pulled him to a door marked “interdepartmental powers research and exploration”,   
  
“Here’s where the literal magic happens!”

"You didn't exactly answer the question, you know."   
  
But then he looked around and no longer cared. There was just  _ so much.  _ He was back in his element, in a way. Even if he'd mostly been a mathematician at his last job. But really, any science was exciting. Especially the cutting edge stuff.  
  
The lab was open plan, with six desks along the edges, all with a certain personality to each of them, a large computer server at the end, surrounded by humming light that reeks of magic, and in the center were...    
  
Well, several spell circles, monitors of mysterious origin, blown glass piping that occasionally went ‘gloop’ and circled most of the other monitors. There were tiny calculators on all the desks, abacuses that did not seem to calculate in the normal way, and one or two coffee mugs with phrases like ‘you don’t have to be a wizard to work  here but it helps!’

"I... really want to touch everything and I'm pretty sure that's gonna... end real bad if I do. But that's a lot of science and I'm a sucker for some good science."   
  
Barry stuck his hands in his pockets, walking around to look at absolutely everything. He was brimming full of questions. What were they studying? What were these setups testing? How long had these tests been going on? She'd mentioned campus and student housing, was she in college? ("Holy shit, how young are you?")

Lup was all too happy to walk him through and explain the various set ups, pointing out long term experiments and short term monitors on things that one of them just found  _ interesting _ that week. They’d gotten funding for this a year ago and were sure to secure it for another (“hell, maybe longer if we can pull something impressive off you.”)    
Classes were... a thing they took, technically. Just enough for Taako and Lup to qualify. (“I’m like a hundo thirty, Bear,  _ I’m _ the cradle robber, if you wanna go on  _ technicals _ .)    
  
Once they’d done a round, the side door to an office opened and Davenport came out, giving Lup an unreadable look.    
  
“Were you going introduce the actual people involved?”

Barry was leaning in to look at one of the monitors when Davenport spoke, a look of intense concentration on his face as he ran numbers in his head, curious to see if he could figure out exactly what this display was for. He froze for just a moment at the voice he didn't recognize and turned. 

“Well, once everyone  _ got _ here, yeah, but I think he’s met everyone else,”    
Lup draped an arm over Barry’s shoulder and grinned at Davenport, her anxiety showing only slightly in the tucked corners of her mouth.    
  
"Oh! Uh... Hello, Sir. Professor? Doctor?" He paused for a long moment, feeling off balance by not actually knowing who he was talking to other than that the man certainly had an air of authority. "I'm uh... I'm Barry. I'm guessing though that you probably already knew that. What with the whole... field work thing."    
  
Shifting just slightly, he felt the fabric of his shirt tug against the harness under it and felt reassured. Everything was fine. Even if they decided he wasn't worth researching anymore, no one here was going to exorcise him. He was silently reciting that fact to himself, making sure it had really sunk in, as he held his hand out with the proper manners he'd been taught so long ago.   
  
Davenport gave her another unimpressed look, before taking Barry’s hand, “All of those at one point or another, I prefer Captain-“    
  
“Cap’nport,” Lup broke in, grinning, “Magnus’s idea.”   
  
“ _ Captain _ will do for now.”

“Captain.”    
  
Barry’s handshake was firm and his posture changed just slightly. He had a lifetime of experience dealing with military, especially the flyboys he’d been around. Showing weakness was never a great plan.    
  
“This is a really impressive facility you’ve got here, Captain. Makes me wonder what we could’ve done with this sort of stuff back in the day.” He considered Davenport for a long moment. “Air Force or Navy, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Air Force; I was-“ Davenport’s mustache twitched in wry humor, “- _ slightly _ too young to be one of your flyboys back in the day.”    
  
The main door opens and Taako walks in with his travel mug, Lucretia and Magnus behind him. Magnus waves frantically and shouts Barry’s name despite there being maybe ten feet between them.

Barry turned and smiled at Magnus, giving him a little wave. "Hello again. I uh... I promise not to light anything on fire with... with spooky evil powers this time."

“Cool. Cool cool cool, hey!” Magnus closes the gap between them as Taako and Lucretia set their things down on their respective work stations, “Hey this means I can hug you now, right?”

"Um... Yes?" Barry looks uncertain and a little confused, but goes with it. Magnus must just be one of those guys who's really big on hugs.

“ _ Awesome- _ ” Magus full body scooped Barry up and squeezed him enthusiastically, “welcome back to the land of the living, buddy!”

Barry yelped when Magnus picked him up and very much wished he could turn this whole corporeal thing on and off. Then he could be back on the ground and  _ not _ being crushed. But Magnus put him back down a moment later and Barry laughed a little, awkwardly. "Uh... I mean, I don't think I'm so much alive as... You know what, sure. Yeah. I'm alive and it's great. Thanks, Magnus   
  
Lup grinned and went to her station, rummaging around the organized chaos that was carefully kept from spilling into Taako’s by a mini planter spilling over with various sweet smelling herbs    
  
Davenport clapped his hands once for attention, “Alright crew, long term stuff into maintenance mode, personal projects on hold for a few days, this takes precedence. Lucretia, do we have anything new on the twins?”    
  
Lucretia pulled out a separate binder with color coded tabs running along it,    
“I found copies of some of their published work, and Edward’s thesis, and I was going to see if Barry could fill me in on anything else Maureen might have missed.”   
  
Barry mouthed the words 'Edward's thesis' and started to move towards that. Then he processed the rest of Lucretia's words and exhaled slowly. Okay, so he was going to spend a day talking about Edward and Lydia.  _ Great. _ Definitely in his top ten things to do.  _ Nope. _

Lup’s ears pricked up too and she’s opened her mouth to... protest, or call Barry over to her station for comfort, when the door opened again and Merle waddled in, fifteen minutes late with Starbucks. He waved at everyone genially, and stopped short at Barry, brow wrinkling in confusion before smiling and waving at him too,    
“Nice shoes!”

Barry looked down at his sneakers and then at Merle. “Thanks? I think? They’re new.” Barry didn’t even begin to know what to make of the man standing in front of him in birkenstocks (with socks!) and a Hawaiian shirt. Was he a hippie? Were there still hippies? He hadn’t asked but he was reasonably certain hippies didn’t work in magical science labs with Air Force Captains. Probably. Things didn’t change that much in fifty years, right?

Merle raised his coffee in salute and waddled to the desk that was more jungle than workstation.    
Lup covered her mouth to stifle a giggle and yelled after him, “Merle! This is Barry Bluejeans, remember? The ghost dude?”    
  
Merle nodded slowly, “Oh yeah... thought your name was Billy,” he sipped his coffee and glanced at Lup,    
“You kids bang yet?”    
  
There was an uproar, Davenport rubbed his face as the rest of the crew turned on Merle   
  
“ _ Merle never say that again, Jesus Christ- _ ”   
“My ears just went straight to Hell-“   
“I’m  _ dying _ , rest in  **peace** -“

Barry had been starting to respond, to introduce himself, literally anything. He didn't remember. The response was dead on his lips, gone and lost forever. He stood there for a long moment with his mouth open and his hand out. Then he looked down and slowly lowered his hand to his side again before laughing nervously. 

"So, uh... if I take this harness off, I can just... sink into the floor and disappear, right?"

Lup darted up to grab his hand and pull him back to an empty seat next to her desk, “no, nope, no way you’re leaving me here on my own, Bluejeans.”   
Her tone was light, but there’s an anxiety in her eyes at the mention of the harness, “Come on, come on, Luce is good at interviews, and  _ Merle _ -“ she shot a glare at said dwarf, “isn’t allowed to speak anymore.”

Barry dropped into the seat and whispered low, “Is  _ that _ the guy you wanted me to talk to about... stuff? Because he looks like a hippie grampa and he’s wearing open toed shoes in a lab.”   
  
Barry did not sound impressed with Merle, but then he squeezed her hand gently, “And don’t worry, I was joking. I’m not going anywhere.”

Lup lowered her voice even more, “Okay,  _ yes _ , he’s awful but he’s actually  _ good _ at his job or he wouldn’t be here.”    
  
Lucretia appeared at her desk, eyebrows raised as she waited Patiently™ for them to finish whispering. 

As Lup sent her an innocent grin, she sat and opened her folder, everyone else pulling various chairs up and sitting in a half circle around them. (Magnus, Merle, and Taako did  _ not _ sit like the chairs were intended.)   
  
“Right, here’s what we’ve figured out so far-“ Lucretia handed him a list of notes rewritten out from their ‘war council’, “we have a plan that we aren’t going to fill you in on all the details just in case, but anything you remember about them as people, or-“ she hesitated, glancing from Lup to Davenport and back to Barry, “-from when you were killed would  _ help _ .”   
  
She spreads her hands in an open gesture, “take your time and say what’s comfortable.”

Barry took a breath and skimmed the notes quickly, using that as an excuse to take some time and pull himself together.    
  
"I do remember that night a lot... a lot more clearly. So, I might as well um..." He took a breath and adjusted in his seat. "I was... in my uh... it’s sort of a craft room? Like... I've got some books there and models and stuff. That I was building. Models that I was building. And I heard the door open, which wasn't all that weird? I mean, it was like... late. Dark out, at least. But it wasn't weird because he did stuff like that all the time. Sometimes, I would wake up and he would just be there. I didn't... I guess I never thought it was weird? But uh..."   
  


* * *

  
Edward leaned casually in the door frame, the small table lamp illuminating his features. 

"Hey there, handsome. Building rockets again? Isn't that what we do all day?"

Barry laughed, pushing his chair back as he stood. He set the model down carefully. 

"What else am I gonna do on a Saturday night? I mean, I just have this... this hopping social schedule, after all." His tone was wry but then he laughed. "I wasn't expecting to see you. I thought you said you had that thing? With Lydia?"

Something unreadable flashed across Edward's face and then vanished, turning into a smile. He waited for Barry to come to him and kissed him lightly. 

"I was, but something came up. So, I decided to come surprise you instead. I put on a pot of coffee too, since I know how bad you are at staying up without it."

Barry returned the kiss, reaching for Edward's hand. 

"I'm _human_ , Edward. Not all of us are perfect ethereal beings who can subsist on... on daydreams and sunshine."

Edward grinned but didn't laugh. Not this time. Instead, he just led Barry down to the kitchen, keeping his conversation light and casual.

"What were you building this time, darling? Another Mercury or a Gemini?"

Barry chuckled quietly, letting Edward lead him through the darkness of the house.

"Would you believe me if I told you I uh... I bought a few kits and I've been mixing and matching. Making my own design." He stumbled at the landing at the bottom of the stairs and Edward caught him. "Couldn't have turned on a light, Ed? Or did you forget I can't see in the dark again."

Edward just put an arm around his shoulders.

"Maybe I just like having you hold my hand? Had you considered that?" His tone was teasing, and he turned to kiss Barry's cheek. "No, and I'm absolutely crushed."

The house was silent and dark. Almost too quiet. They stepped into the kitchen and Barry turned, realizing the light on his little coffee maker was off.

"I thought you said-"

And then the basement door swung open. Lydia stepped out of the shadows and Barry looked up at Edward, suddenly realizing that something was very wrong.

"Edward? What uh... what's going on?"

Edward had gone quiet, his eyes suddenly cold and distant. Lydia grabbed Barry's arm roughly and pushed him towards the basement stairs.

"Let's go, Bluejeans. We're going to do some very important, very powerful magic and you're going to help."

\---------------------------------------------   
  
"Next thing I knew, I was on the floor in the basement and... They'd already set the whole spell up. I have no idea how long they were there before Edward came upstairs. But... Well... That's... that's pretty much what happened. Edward was the one who actually... you know, with the knife."   
  
His tone had gone flat halfway through the telling, his gaze down. When he finished, he looked back up. His eyes were distant.    
  
"Does that help? Is... is there anything else you want to know?"

Lucretia was scribbling down everything as he said it, Taako had set up a recorder, but none of them were sure it would work perfectly, considering Barry’s previous troubles with video.

(Later they would find out that the recorder had only caught about half of what Barry had said and seemed to have as much trouble catching the sound of his voice as the camera had seeing him. Parts of it were nothing but static and white noise. Another part had odd sounds, almost like it had caught not the words but instead an echo of the events Barry was describing. )   
  
Lup had laced her fingers through Barry’s and would squeeze them whenever she felt the slightest catch in his voice, her face still and cold by the end.   
  
Everyone was briefly quiet as Barry finished until Magnus scooted his chair closer and leaned his heavy shoulder into Barry’s, pushing him closer into Lup.    
  
Lucretia looked up from her notes, eyes shadowed, “ah... yes, that’s good. I think, uhm... if you can think of anything about... how he did his work; magic, yes, but also just their calculations-“   
  
Taako broke in, voice uncharacteristically soft, “everyone’s got a style, right? It comes up in their work, what kinda materials they like workin’ with, how they draw their circles, all that shit. There’s a shit ton of math in magic too, so uh, if you have anything of  _ that _ ....”

"He was... sort of flashy. With everything, honestly. It's like... Edward and Lydia always worked together, right? So he would be taking shortcuts and she would be checking his math. We did pairs work a lot so no one's math was off. It's not like we had computers.  _ We _ were the computers. So we couldn't afford to... We couldn't make mistakes. Sometimes I checked his work, but not often. I didn't like his style. Too disorganized and uh... His handwriting is awful."

Lup snorts in disgust and muttered something that might have been “ _ sloppy _ -“ and Taako nodded, drumming his fingers on the table,    
  
“That’s good, that’s cool, we can use that. Lup and i’ll look over the pictures of the circles we have and see if we can find a gap or loophole we can use-“    
He flicked a glance at Lucretia, who nodded.    
  
Merle spoke up then, “When we  _ do _ do- whatever, “ he waved his hand at Davenport’s warning glance, “better t’split them up. If they’re anything like  _ you _ two, they’ll be easier to deal with without the other backin’ em up.”

Barry nodded slowly. That tracked alright. He couldn't think of a time he'd seen either of them do magic alone, actually. Not unless you counted the little witchlights that Edward would cast some nights.    
  
"Given what I know of them, that... that honestly makes sense. But uh... I think it also makes a lot of sense to uh... They're really close, like  _ really _ close. If one of them thinks the other is in trouble, they're going to drop whatever else is happening and go help. I've seen it. And not even like... danger-danger. Just... anything. Lydia more so but... Separating them is gonna be hard."

Taako flicked a finger at Lup and Magnus, “guess that’s going to be part of  _ your _ job-“    
He searched Lup’s face, even though his tone was light, worried about the stony blankness he was seeing there,    
“Think you got it, Lup?”    
  
Lup’s eyes snap back into focus and she gives him a crooked grin,    
“Oh for sure, for sure. I’ve got, uuuuuuhfew ideas about that.”   
  
She patted Taako’s hand absently and shot another look at Davenport who sighed,    
  
“I think our planning has to wait on the team now; Lup, you’re officially assigned to Barry as field work. Take notes, don’t do anything stupid. Barry? Any questions for any of  _ us? _ ”

Barry listened to the conversion and looked down, trying to hide a smile. A half formed joke about mixing work and play flitted through his mind and he glanced at Lup. Then he looked back at Davenport and nodded.   
  
"I do, actually, Captain. I mean, I have a lot of questions, most of which have been getting answered. But uh... Is there anything I can actually do to help? Beyond just information? The thing... the parasite, it's not in my head any more. And I am a scientist. If I can help, I want to."

Davenport ran his hand over his face and considered Barry carefully, before nodding.    
  
“Check over Edward’s maths with Taako, he knows what corresponds to a spell, but if he’s as likely to cut corners as you say, a second pair of eyes on his equations is better. Lup, while they’re doing that, you and Lucretia will be working on wards. Get to it, gang.”

"Yeah, I can do that."   
  
Barry squeezed Lup's hand gently and went to go stand by Taako's desk. "So... did his handwriting ever get better or is it as abysmal as I remember?"   
  
They had actually made a rule at some point that the official versions of their calculations had to be written out either by Lydia or Maureen since they were the only one with handwriting good enough to be read by everyone. Barry's was good but he had some idiosyncrasies that could confuse people.

Lucretia pushed her stack of papers to Taako before she and Lup moved to her workstation,   
“It’s a shitshow, good luck.”    
  
Taako’s ears went back as he paged through them, lip curling as he set the pictures from the basement to their own pile on the side,    
  
“ _ Jesus _ , this? I’m  _ offended _ . This  _ offends _ me. There’s nothing wrong with style, but it should only  _ look _ like you didn’t put effort into it....”

Barry pushed his glasses up and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry, did you just.... Please tell me you're talking about literally anything other than the ritual from... I really don't want to have to add 'hastily done and probably fucked up' to the list of descriptors for that night."

“No, but like... it  _ worked _ clearly. You’re here and they didn’t go nutso,  _ probably. _ But it’s-“ Taako flailed both hands, “it’s not  _ efficient _ , the circle worked and they still have their summons, but it probably wasted a shit ton of power.”   
  
He leaned in, skimming the page Taako was actually looking at. Weirdly, he recognized parts of it but not others. "I... I helped with some of this math. See these parts?" He traced a section with one finger. The numbers there were blocky but legible, unlike Edward's scrawl and Lydia's tight, tiny writing.

Taako looked where Barry was pointing and frowned.    
“Hey this is good.... see,  _ that’s _ what I mean...”

Barry leaned in. "You mean the parts I did? I just... I just made sure the equations balanced. I was treating the whole thing like it was chemistry."   
  
He started reading more thoroughly through the rest and then made an exasperated sound. "True story, I literally put a post-it note on Lydia's desk after they'd been there a month to tell her to watch his signs because sometimes he flips them and..." He jabbed several spots. "And  _ yet." _

“S’just chemistry and physics, m’man. Just with the power of the universe as a compound.”    
Taako cackled at his own joke, and leans back in his chair,   
  
“Hey, Luce!”   
“Mhm?”   
“These are copies, right?”   
“Mmmmyup.”   
  
“Fuckin sweet,” Taako grabbed two red pens from a mug (“I’m gay and $20 is $20”) and handed one to Barry, “hokay, Barold, I’ll grade this stack, you grade that one.”

Barry snorted and grabbed a pen. "Well this fucking takes me right back. Don't suppose we could throw on some Sinatra while we're at it?" His tone was wry and full of humor as he bent over the stack and started working.   
  
Edward's math was as bad as he remembered. Barry recognized Lydia's corrections and a few of his own. Honestly, if Edward hadn't been brilliant with theory and formula creation (and spell creation if it came down to that), he probably wouldn't have been hired. Lydia had never been as good at crafting spells but she could cast anything anyone had ever made, including Edward's work. Barry tensed then, realizing what that could imply and he looked up.   
  
"How uh... how much of a problem is it gonna be for you guys if they... if they used spells that they wrote themselves?"

Taako snorted, scrolling through his phone before choosing a Spotify playlist that did indeed start with Frank Sinatra.   
“Puh- _ leese _ , taking new spells apart is ch’boy’s  _ specialty _ .”  
  
"Well excuuuuse me." Barry laughed. He was really getting to like Taako now that he wasn't worried about how he was going to react to the whole 'I'm dating your sister' thing. Taako seemed like the kind of guy he could be friends with, which was something he sorely needed.

The lab settled into a rhythm, everyone working on their own part of the project, with occasional trips from one station to another to compare notes.    
  
Finally, Davenport called a break for lunch and everyone trooped out.   
  
Barry followed along with the others, but he didn't go straight to Lup's side this time. He had another quick conversation he wanted to have first. He caught up to Merle and pulled the man aside. They would catch up in a minute.   
  
"Hey uh... um... Merle, right? So... Lup told me that... Well, she was explaining how... how uh... mental health stuff has changed and... and we were talking about how I should probably talk to someone about... you know... Everything? And well, she said you were who I should talk to."   
  
He knew he was stammering and meandering but it was hard to admit that he needed help. Breaking the instinct of his whole life, of 'if someone knows I have a problem, my life is going to fall apart', it was hard.

Merle waited patiently for Barry’s stuttering to fade away before reaching up to pat his hip, “you good?”   
  
When he got a nod, he gave Barry a gentle grin, “Hey, give yourself a pat on the back, kid, that was hard stuff you just did. I’d do it for ya, but-“ he waved a hand as far up as it would go and chuckled.   
“So, I don’t do a whole heck lot of counseling shit anymore, but givin’ ya a referral would be tricky. We can set up a couple sessions and see if you don’t feel like killin’ me after and go from there?”

"Uh... Yeah. I guess? I mean, as long as you uh... as long as you're not planning on making any more jokes about my sex life, we'll probably get along alright." Barry chuckled quietly and smiled. "Thanks though. That uh... that was a little rough? Um... and I'm not really busy... ever? So whenever is good for you. I'm gonna... go catch up with uh... with Lup now, if that's okay..."   
  
Merle was laughing as Barry jogged off to catch up with Lup. He hadn't actually promised not to make more jokes, but he  _ might _ remember the request. Maybe. Probably not, honestly.

Lup reached out to sling an arm around Barry’s neck as he jogged up and bumped her head against his, “How’d that go?”    
  
Barry laughed and put his arm around her waist. "We're going to set up a session and talk. And I only stammered for like... three minutes. Not bad really. A new record." He kissed her cheek gently. "I like your friends. They're... they're nice."

"They're not  _ nice _ , they're mostly assholes, but they're good anyway, " Lup squeezed him. "I'm not really good with nice people."  
  
They were all of them headed to a small café a few blocks away from the main building, Taako and Ren were walking ahead of them all, heads tilted together in an intense conversation, Lucretia rereading her notes as she walked, and Magnus cutting his huge stride down to chat with Davenport.

When they got to the café, Barry looked at the menu and his eyes went wide. "Holy  _ shit, _ this place is expensive."   
  
Davenport and Merle had already ordered when Lup and Barry walked in and Magnus laughed as he got in line in front of them, "Really? No, this is like...the cheapest place on campus."   
  
"Inflation," Lucretia hadn't looked up from her notes the whole walk, and she gave Barry a crooked smile as she put them away, "You missed three market crashes and a recession."

Barry opened and closed his mouth a few times. "Like... like the Great Depression? I mean... I remember that and that was  _ rough. _ I was a kid then." Then he shook his head a little and skimmed the menu again. "Huh... Avocado on a BLT? Adventurous. I'll try that."

"Yeah, we'll give you a rundown and a wiki link  _ later _ , right now is staying posi," Lup unwinds from him to give the clearly young for her species halfling cashier an enormous smile and orders rapidly, winks broadly, and drops her change into the tip jar, leaving the girl blushing happily. Linking her arm with Barry's, she dragged him over to the two tables that have been commandeered.

Barry settled into his seat next to Lup and smiled at the others. He wasn't really sure what they would talk about out in public like this. Was their work secret? He honestly had no idea and hadn't thought to ask before. Staying quiet, he decided to just listen to them for a while and work it out that way.   
  
Which was... rough. Especially with Taako and Ren discussing what sounded like either the most complicated recipe known to man  _ or _ maybe gossiping about a guy? It was stunningly hard to tell and maybe they were actually having two conversations at once? Very confusing. They might be discussing a crab dish? Crab cakes? Moving along, Barry could hear Magnus talking animatedly to Davenport about how Julia had asked him out on a date and he was really excited. Davenport looked like he was just nodding because Magnus was excited and definitely didn't want to know nearly as much about the love lives of everyone around him as he did. Merle was examining the flowers in the vase on the table and muttering about how they really needed to change the water out more often if they were going to try to keep cut flowers alive...or something. And Lucretia had returned to silently reading her notes. In short, Barry was more lost than ever.

Lup came over with their food and sat next to Barry, tapping Lucretia's shoulder until she looked up, "Lucy, Luc, babe,  _ sweetie _ -"   
  
Lucretia raised an eyebrow and turned back to her notes, "I'm eating."   
  
Lup huffed, clearly put out, and turned to snag Magnus's attention and ask about Julia, which got her a brief appreciative look from Davenport who turned to talk to Merle about scheduling their game night.    
  
Magnus turned to Lup, a huge smile on his face. "Yeah, we got to talking after you and Barry left and she's really nice and  _ did you know she punched a ghost? _ She's so cool. And then she asked  _ me _ out. We're getting dinner tonight." He ran his fingers nervously through his hair. "I haven't figured out what I should wear yet. I was thinking maybe... no sleeves?"

“Yeah, no, she’s  _ super _ cool,” Lup pushed her shoulder against Barry’s, “you’ll like her, she’s way less unsettling than Noelle.”    
  
Turning back to Magnus, she reached out to pat his cheek condescendingly, “Maggie, you’re a disaster and I love you... wear a fuckin’ button up at  _ least _ , my dude.”   
  


"Okay, but what about a button-up  _ with no sleeves?" _

Turning to every one of their table mates in turn, Lup gossiped and teased and joked, picking at her food, and always made sure to turn to Barry to explain a joke or mention a mutual acquaintance he should meet- or be wary of in a few cases.   
  
Barry started to join in on the conversation after a bit, cautiously sharing stories from the old days. But after a while, he had really started getting into it and was trying to remember some of his mother's old recipes. Things he hadn't had since he was a kid. He also made an off-handed remark about how he hadn't eaten a  _ real _ banana since he was a kid to which Taako responded by gesturing at him excitedly and turning to Magnus. "See?  _ See? _ I told you! The shit you call a banana is built on a throne of  _ lies, _ Magnus Burnsides!"

Lucretia eventually put her notes down as Barry started joining in, asking a few questions of him and trying to help Lup convince Magnus that rolling up sleeves on a shirt was  _ far _ preferable to ripped ones.   
It definitely turned into a  _ long _ lunch, but no one seemed especially worried about this, content to let out some of the building tension from the last week.   
  
Finally, Ren glanced guiltily at her watch and started to clear her tray which was the signal for everyone to grab their trash and make their way outside.   
  
The afternoon's work went much the same as the morning, with perhaps more including Barry in the various injokes of the lab, and Lucretia and Lup pulled up their ward work to Taako and Barry's station to discuss balancing spells.  
  
Lup couldn't look at the red-marked papers with Edward's name on them without sneering and her ears going back.   
  
The day drew to a close, Magnus leaving first and Merle soon after, with a pat to Barry's shoulder and a teasing "call me~" with associated phone sign. It wasn't until Davenport went into his office that Taako and Lup jumped up to pack their things and drag Barry and Lucretia out the door, insisting that  _ eating _ was a  _ thing _ .   
  
Taako peeled off, saying "ch'boy has  _ plans _ and won't be home tonight, don't wait up, mbye."   
  
Lup flipped him off affectionately and turned to Barry,   
  
"So....wanna get dinner? Or...." She glanced down at his clothes and grinned, "Probably some shopping is in order, huh?"

Barry had noticed Lup's reaction to Edward's work during the day and a little ball of anxiety was growing in his gut. What if she thought less of him because of his past? The more he was looking back and really  _ thinking, _ the more he was realizing that dating Edward had been a giant mistake, that  _ trusting _ Edward had been a giant mistake. And the fact that he had just blindly, blithely, gone along with everything was... honestly embarrassing? And worse, she knew all of it. Every sordid piece. What if... what if... what if...  
  


  
By the time it was time to go, he was a ball of tension, only just barely holding himself together. Not that you could tell from the outside. From the outside, he just maybe a bit nervous but not like the world was going to collapse around him. Until he started talking. The words were pouring out of him, tripping over each other like water rushing down a stream and bouncing and churning over the rocks.   
  
"Dinner... dinner sounds good and... I mean, we could just grab my clothes from my house, right? I uh... it's not like... I can't really... I don't think I have money and I don't want to make you... You really don't need to... uh..."

Lup blinked at the sudden nervous energy running off Barry in a torrent, ears flicking up and towards him in surprise. It occurred to her that if they were back at his house, harness or no, things would suddenly be lifting around them and lights flickering. As it was, she wondered if she was just imagining what seems be an empathetic fizz of magic gathering under her own skin.   
  
"Hey...hey, it's cool, babe," she pushed against Barry, wrapping her arms around his waist and knocking her forehead affectionately against his. "I'm not taking you to Abercrombie or anything. We'll head to the Goodwill and grab you an extra pair of pants and some pjs until we can make the trip back to your house, kay?"

A bit of the tension drained off of him and he relaxed into the hug. "Oh... yeah... Yeah, that's fine."    
  
As they walked towards her car, he took her hand, lacing their fingers together. It was almost enough to make the screaming in his mind shut up for a few minutes.

“Yeah,” Lup kissed his forehead and accepted his hand and their fingers together. The slightly-too-cool ness of his skin no longer seemed off, it was just _Barry._   
  
The thrift store was _old_ even by Lup’s standards. The ancient gnome of unknown and uncaring gender behind the counter looked them over and pointed to the curtained off section when Barry had found a few pairs of jeans that looked like they might fit. Lup stayed behind to rummage through the loose shirts and found an unopened package of nondescript white socks that slightly offended her, but would probably fit Barry for now.

With a pair of jeans that had fit at least moderately well ("What the hell happened to sizes in the last fifty years?"), a pair of plaid dorm pants that were soft and well worn in, and a faded Property of NASA t-shirt that Barry found too ironic to pass up in hand, he went to go find Lup. Barry set the pile of clothes into a shopping basket and hugged her from behind.    
  
"Find anything fun?"

Lup beamed and held up an extra large shirt that said ‘Enginerd’ in a highly stylized font on it. "I'm buying this and you're wearing it, Bluejeans," Gesturing to her own basket, she pointed at a pair of sturdy doc martins that still had the original price tag on them, "And if you don't fit those,  _ I'm _ getting them, that shit's a steal."

His eyes absolutely lit up at the t-shirt and he kissed her cheek. "I  _ love _ it. Did you see the one I found?" He took the boots, looking them over for a minute. "They're all yours, babe. Definitely not fitting me."  


"Baller," Lup grinned as she picked up the Nasa shirt, running her hand over the plaid pants in appreciation of their texture, before turning to scan the shoe rack,    
"Might wanna grab another pair of shoes, slip ons or something. Got you some socks, and that's probably good...?" She glanced at him, ears alert.

Barry turned to the shoe rack, looking through it without much optimism. There were  _ a lot _ of sneakers and an absolutely terrifying number of heels. After a bit though, he returned with a pair of bright blue crocs in his hand. "Okay... So these are slip-ons and they fit. But uh... Is this really a thing people wear now? Um... I don't know what they're made of but I'm about 80% sure you could uh... you could use them as insulation."

Lup turned and her ears dipped and flicked up again as disgust warred with amusement, "Okay, I'm not going to say those  _ don't _ have their place in the right, uh, ecosystem. But A: Taako  _ will _ set them on fire if you bring them in the house, and B: please know that Merle has a pair."

"Huh... Okay. Noted. I'll just... put those back and we'll never speak of this. That sound good?"   
  
He came back a moment later with a pair of cheap black slip-ons. "Better? Not going to get set on fire? Not putting me in the same fashion ecosystem as Merle?" He was grinning wryly.

Lup returned his grin and held out her basket, to which she had added several solid colored button downs and tee shirt with an Avengers Cover print on the front.   
"Much better, let's check out and get some food, babe."   
  
The gnome cashier barely looked at their choices before waving them all onto a scale, even the doc martins which made Lup bounce out excitedly, swinging her bags in one hand, fingers of the other laced with Barry's.   
  
"Right, I'm feeling curry, how about you?"

"Never had it before. I uh... I've never exactly been... uh... culinarily  _ adventurous, _ let's say. Sort of grew up on the old cabbage, potatoes, and sausage."   
  
That wasn't entirely true. He'd tried a few other things, mostly at the insistence of Edward and Lydia (who he was consciously trying not to think of as 'his friends' or 'the twins' any more). In the course of that, he had very much discovered he had no tolerance for anything spicy at all. He didn't even eat spicy sausage, just a lot of different kinds of wurst.    
  
"I'm game to try though. If uh... if that's what you want."

"Hmmm," Lup's gaze flickered over him once, trying not to show how much she was beginning to bristle at the phrase 'if that's what you want' any time it came from Barry. "Second day of eating probably isn't a great time to start then, there's a Dwarven place down the road that has a good selection."   
  
Not bothering to move her car once they tossed their bags in, she led him several blocks, asking him for a comparison of what had changed, and explaining what Starbucks was, why there were so many.

The entire concept of having that many coffee shops was absolutely hilarious in Barry's mind, enough so that he could ignore the tension in the air. He would bring it up tonight. He promised that silently. They would talk. He would ask the questions he was dreading asking and they would talk (and she would say more than "of course not, Barry." and she wouldn't laugh his worry off) because that's what communication was and he was going to communicate. Or he was going to die trying. Well, metaphorically, anyway.   
  
As they took a seat, Barry flipped the menu open and smiled. "Ever had spaetzle? It's delicious. Definitely recommended."

Lup’s ears pricked up as she ran a finger down the menu, “Yeah like  _ ages _ ago, though. I should bully ‘Ko into making them again.”    
  
Once their orders are taken and they’re left with water, she sent him a slightly worried glance.    
  
“How you holding up? I kinda threw you into the deep end big today....”

"No, no, it was fine. I uh... I liked getting to do something, you know? And uh... and I think I'm getting along with Taako which is nice. I uh... I'd prefer he like me, in the grand scheme of things."   
  
He took a sip of his water, going quiet for just a moment.   
  
"I mean, there's a lot to figure out and I uh... I'm really not sure Captain Davenport likes me, which whatever, I can deal with that. And Merle is... I don't have words in my vocabulary to truly encompass... Merle." Then he laughed. "Think Magnus is actually gonna rip the sleeves off a shirt to impress Julia?"

Lup set her chin on her fist and watched Barry as he talked, smiling slightly as he stumbled over his words, and keeping an eye on the crease above his nose when he talked about Davenport. It takes her a beat to realize he wants a response and her ears flicked back in brief embarrassment,    
  
“Oh he’s  _ going _ to, it’s just a matter of how long he’ll wait to  _ do _ it. And if he gets a second date after, I’m calling soul mates on that one.”

There had been worry on his face when he talked about Davenport, and about Merle as well. But it vanished now as he teased poor Magnus.   
  
"Think he'll rip them off before or after dinner? Or... or during?" Barry snorted a laugh. "Can you imagine that? Just... grabbing your shirt sleeves and ripping them off at the table and like... flexing?"  
  
“When he shows up on her doorstep, waves hi and just fuckin’ flexing until they tear,”    
  
He chuckled, leaning on the table and fiddling with a packet of sugar in his hands.   
  
"What do you uh... usually do there? You know, when you're not... hunting necromancers."   
  
He'd very nearly said 'when you're not hunting ex-boyfriends' which, while  _ correct _ probably wasn't the best thing to say.

Lup watched him play with the sugar packet, sensing his nervous energy but not sure where it was coming from or if to press for it.    
  
“I mean, kinda just what we did today only with other spells... you saw the long term set ups we have, sometimes it’s doing spells with those turned on... or putting Magnus in a circle and chucking magic at him,” she grinned, wryly, “he likes those days best... or worst depending. One time Taako turned him into a bear for like five hours.”

Barry laughed quietly. "And here I was thinking Taako probably wasn't into bears. He strikes me as more the fox type." He took a long sip of his water. "What are the uh... odds that Davenport will let me stick around once this whole... uh... thing... is dealt with? Like as an extra hand with the research. I'm not exactly keen on trying to get back into the engineering game. Especially considering I barely made your coffeemaker work this morning."

Lup almost missed Barry’s question as she inhaled her water at his comment, and was trying to clear her airways;   
  
“ **Oh my FUCK!** ” she put her head down and wheezed gently, “and you haven’t even  _ met _ Kravitz yet, Istus’ tears.” 

Barry grinned. "I thought I had his type pinned. Good to know uh... good to know I can still call it. Kravitz is his boyfriend then? The one he kept cryptically referencing?"   
  
She wiped her eyes and gulped down some water before she felt ready to answer his  question, “oh for sure, he’ll bring you on as a consultant or something. If he doesn’t, those ghost busting ladies will make a snatch for you, and they’re NICE and all but-“ she shrugged and gave him a tilted smile, “he was probably testing how you fit the team today.  _ I _ am pretty fuckin sure you passed.”

He leaned on one hand, enjoying her smile. He loved the way it tugged at the corners of her mouth. Then he shook his head a little, what she'd said fully processing.   
"If it was a test, I'm glad no one told me beforehand. I'm not great at tests." His smile turned wry. "Once when I was a kid, they uh... they gave me a timed math test and I panicked and multiplied the whole thing. Turns out I was supposed to be doing addition."

“Awwww, babe,” Lup grinned, but it was softer at the edges, “that’s terrible; glad i skipped out on that shit for so long.”    
  
The food arrives right then, giving Lup time to deal with the sudden bubbling lightness inside her chest at the sight of Barry’s smile across the table. Somehow she doesn’t quite want to look at it closely right  _ now _ , but shoving it away feels... unnecessary.    
  
As she starts in her food she remembers Barry’s  _ other _ question,    
“Oh! Yeah, Kravitz is some dude who works for this  _ super _ mysterious agency that uh, regulates magical usage of... less savory things. Your case falls under it, but not like... you? Anyway, he caught Magnus, Merle, and Taako out doing something  _ technically _ classified last year, it was a mess. I’ll let you hear Taako tell it later.”

"Huh... That sounds wild. I can't wait to hear it."    
  
He was eating happily, making light conversation. Mostly asking about the other members of her research team. He had a lot of questions about them, about what they worked out, about how they got along. He seemed particularly interested in getting a solid grasp of the internal workings of the mystery known as Davenport.    
  
After a while, Barry decided that  _ maybe _ he could broach the topic he was nervous about over dinner. After all, maybe it would be less awkward that way? Probably a lot less awkward than if they were already back at home her place.   
  
"Hey uh... hey Lup, I've got sort of a weird question, if that's... alright." He was looking down now, his voice quiet. "Sort of... sort of just something that's been on my mind and uh... if it's dumb or whatever..." Okay, time to just go for it. "Earlier, when we were uh... working. Going through the... papers. You seemed sort of... angry? And I guess, I guess I just wanted to make sure that you're not..." He was pushing spaetzle around his plate with his fork, making little piles of it and then spreading them back out. "I sort of... I... I know I didn't exactly make the best choices back then and probably a lot of what I was saying I did sounds really... really stupid on this end of things. And I guess I just want to make sure you don't... that you don't think less of me for being kind of an idiot about... everything."

Lup had just taken a rudely large bite when Barry started talking, and she froze as he  _ continued _ , ears flicked forward in surprise, then lowering, still flared out. Her mind whirled as he kept refusing to meet her eyes and fidgeted and- boy, he had been sitting on that all  _ day? _   
  
She finally took her fork out of her mouth and gulped a mouthful of water to clear out......-well  _ partially _ clear out her mouth;    
  
"You think I'm  _ mad _ at you??"

He sunk down in his chair just slightly and if he'd been incorporeal still, he would have been falling through it and the floor.    
  
"N-no. I mean... not... not mad? I just... Fuck, I don't know what I mean, Lup. I just... I just want to know that that's not... directed at me." He exhaled slowly, trying to find his words. "It's not that I... think you're mad at me? It's that... that I'm  _ worried _ you are. There's a difference there somewhere, I think."

"No, yeah, yeah that tracks, uhm.... _ shit _ -" Lup leaned back in her chair, running her hands through the shortest part of her hair, "HOooooowww do I put this...Fuck."   
  
Sitting up straight again, she pointed her fork at Barry, "You are not the first dude by a long shot- since the fuckin' dawn of  _ people _ probably; who got into a fucked up relationship because he expected his partner to,  _ I _ dunno,  _ be decent _ and  _ act in good faith _ ."   
  
She stabbed her fork into her spaetzle, "Ch'girl has  _ been _ there, Istus and probably most gods know,  _ but- _ " She pointed her now loaded fork back at him, "That's not on  _ you _ , never will be. It's all on  _ him _ , like.... **fuck** Barry, he  _ killed _ you and I dunno, I kinda walk around the world expecting most people in civilization have the good taste not to  _ kill _ me."   
  
She took an angry bite, ears pressed back and quivering in barely contained rage, "So....so seeing stuff that explains what kinda person he was-is, whatever, it just- "   
  
She swallowed, staring off into space, for SURE not meeting Barry's eyes, "He had  _ you _ and he didn't think that was ENOUGH...."

Barry’s eyes widened slightly and he adjusted his glasses, trying to process her words. She was mad at Edward. At  _ Edward. _ Not him. She was mad at Edward because of what happened to him.    
  
It was hard to believe but it sounded like the truth. And Lup hadn’t once lied to him, so why would she start now?    
  
Then she said the last and he felt a hot blush on his cheeks. He could hear insistent drumming in his ears and it took a long moment before he realized it was his own heart beat, pounding almost (  _ almost! _ ) like it had when he was alive.   
  
“I...” He reached across the table and caught her hand, squeezing gently. “This might be kinda cliche, like bad romance novel levels of cliche, but I’m sort of... I guess I’m just glad things worked out like this because otherwise I never would’ve met you and... and that would be, well I guess in that uh... that  timeline I wouldn’t know what I was missing. But you know what I mean. I’m glad I can be here and now and with you.”

Lup’s eyes swung around from the middle distance to meet his and she gulped at the look on his face because  _ it really wasn’t fair _ that he was so earnest and- and  _ good _ .    
  
“Yeah, I-“ Lup cleared her throat, “I mean, it’s not cliche if it’s just  _ true _ .... I’m- I’m glad too.  _ Really _ glad.”   
  
She squeezed Barry’s hand back, trying to work past the lump in her throat, “so don’t, um, don’t go thinking any of this was ever your fault, right? Cause I  _ know _ it’s not.”    
  
She met his eyes then, ears pink and quivering with emotion and mouth drawn tight into a line. She.....  _ loved _ him, and why  _ not? _ He was  _ good _ and a genius and a dork with a sly sense of humor and....And she’d fight the world and any two-bit abusive asshole of a necromancer who thought he could take Barry away from her.


	13. Sex Chapter 2: Romantic Boogaloo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got some more PTSD flashbacks and traumatic associations of a sexual nature in this chapter, my dudes, take care of yourselves

The ride back home was deliberately casual after dinner's intense conversation, and Lup was very glad for Barry's lack of dark vision making it easy for her to hide the flush rising up her cheeks and ears. When they got home, she tossed the new clothes in the hamper to go to the laundry room and debated running down there now or waiting till morning.

  
Chewing her lip, she glanced at Barry, "Hey babe? Clean clothes now or later? Caaaaause, I'm really feeling you fucking me tonight and I dunno how much delayed gratification I'm into right now."

 

Barry set down the bag of shoes he had carried up from the car and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her, long and sweet.   
"I can definitely do later."

  
He rested his hands on her hips, excitement thrumming in his veins. Then he sniffed a little and looked embarrassed.    
"Oooor I should go take another stab at figuring out how to uh... to shower with this thing on." He reached up to tap the harness with one hand. "Something tells me I don't want to find out what happens if it shorts out."

 

"No, not really, no," Lup draped her arms over his shoulders and buried her face in his neck, "Mmmmmmight need to help you move it around and just wash halves of yourself at a time." A thought which did nothing to dampen the coiling heat in her belly.   
Standing up, she tugged Barry towards the bathroom, "C'mon, we have all night to figure this shit out."

 

Barry laughed, letting himself be led. He was absolutely loving the idea of having her hands on his body with the heat of the water streaming over both of them. Almost as soon as they got into the bathroom, he pulled her into another kiss, running his hands over her back.   
"Might just take all night, babe."

 

Lup leaned into the kiss, letting Barry pull her flush against him, "Mmmmmnah, see, all the stuff is in my bedroom, and I deffo need your dick tonight. So maybe _half_ the night."   
  
She tugged at his shirt until he lifted his arms enough to let her pull it off, and ran a hand under the harness straps. Biting her lip, ears straight with anxiety, she slowly moved them down, keeping the power pack pressed against Barry's back until only the belt was around him.

 

Barry moved to kiss her again and briefly flickered into incorporeal-existence again. Lup couldn’t keep back a gasp as it felt like the front of her face was briefly plugged into ice water; or the second one as a bar of soap sitting on the sink lifted up into the air and flew across the room and then... he settled back into being solid.   
  
"Well... That was a thing. And it just happened." He shook his head a little and then went back to kissing her, pushing her shirt up.

Lup kept one hand holding the straps against him as she tried to pull her arm back through her sleeve, growling in frustration,    
  
“Okay, fine, okay, pause on the sexy for half a sec while we figure this out,” pulling one strap back over Barry’s shoulder, she stripped off her shirt and pants, huffing in triumph as she could press back against Barry fully.    
  
“Much better....”   
  


He chuckled quietly. "I'm just gonna apologize in advance for any and all non-sexy poltergeist activity that uh... that might happen by accident." He kissed the corner of her mouth and then along her jaw and down her neck. Reluctantly, he lowered his hands from her skin to start trying to undo his belt and get his jeans off. He was having a lot of trouble, hands shaking with eagerness.   
  


 

“As opposed to the sexy poltergeist activity?” The broad wink she gave him was maybe over the top, but...Nah.    
  
Lup pushed Barry’s hands aside gently and undid his belt and fly, kissing down his sternum as she did so. As his jeans dropped to the floor, she stepped back to look at him- all of him with intense satisfaction.    
  
“ _Fuck_ you’re hot,” leaning back into the shower, Lup turned the water on. “Top half first?”   
  


He blushed brightly as she looked him over, feeling conscious but also really enjoying the way her eyes roved over him. Like she was ready to devour him even now and it was wonderful.    
  
"Yeah, that uh... probably makes the most sense. I'll try to... not phase out on you, I guess?"   
  


Lup put out a hand to test the water temperature, smiling at him,    
“I want it noticed I haven’t made a joke about you staying hard yet. I’m restraining myself here.” 

 

Barry was laughing and put a hand back to push the power pack so it stayed tight against his back.  
  
“I’m noting it. _Very_ impressed. And uh... you definitely don’t need to restrain yourself at all.” 

He reached for a washcloth and started in on a brisk wash with one hand, trying to juggle it and the powerpack of the harness.  
  
Tugging Barry forward, Lup kissed him deeply and slid the strap down, pulling them right around his waist.   
“Better hurry up here,” she nuzzled against his ear, “we got _shit_ to do, Bluejeans...I’ll wait on unrestrained passionate puns for when we’re not courting you going ghosty again.” 

  
Lup cupped the power pack against Barry’s back, wanting to run fingers along his sides and stomach but limiting herself to a slow caress of his lower back.

 

“I really appreciate this, by the way. Because if I had to figure out how to do this on my own...” He chuckled quietly. “I’d be on the one way road to trash bag poncho land. And that’s just embarrassing.”   
  
He had finished his hasty top-half wash and moved to kiss her lightly.   
  
“Okay, so I guess the straps go back on and I... sit on the edge of the tub maybe? Unless you’ve got a better idea, babe.”

“Yeah, let’s move the belt some, give it room for the splash zone,” Lup returned his kiss, adding another to his cheek as they adjusted,  “And really, listen, babe, _darling_... this is all self interest in the outcome I’m doing right here, plus I get to touch you all over,” she combed fingers through his damp curls in demonstration.

 

Barry froze up completely and there was a loud bang as a bottle of shampoo rocket across the room, exploding against the door. For just a moment, he had been somewhere else, some _when_ else. 

  
\------

  
Edward's fingers were tangled in Barry's curls and he pulled his hand back, forcing Barry's head back so his throat was exposed.   
"Isn't that right, _darling?_ "

  
\------

  
Almost slightly frantic, Barry put a hand on Lup's shoulder and squeezed his eyes shut tight and tried to figure out how to express No. Bad. when he couldn't force words out past the tightening of his throat.

Lup jumped at the sudden flying shampoo bottle, a curse word dying on her lips as Barry clutched her shoulder, “Wha- what? Which?”   
She took her fingers out of his hair, readjusting her grip on the harness and wrapping an arm around his waist,    
  
“Which part, Bear?”

 

He took a few breaths, trying to steady himself. Then he opened his eyes, wishing that he could actually see her. But his glasses were sitting next to the sink where they wouldn't get soaked and... Then he tried to make his frazzled brain string words together to answer her question.    
  
"B-both? Um... 'darling' not a good word. And uh... Definitely...definitely not... I mean," He took another breath. "I like it when you play with my hair but not... Don't call me that and do it at the same time. Maybe... maybe just don't call me that?"

 

Lup kissed his cheek, squeezing his waist tight and relaxing, “its gone, off limits forever.”   
  
Pressing her face into Barry’s shoulder, the hand not holding the power pack rubbed slow circles along his back and shoulders, “any other pet names I should avoid? ‘Bear’ and ‘babe’ are safe....?”    
It was said as a statement, but there was a questioning tone curl at the end.

"Those are good. Love those. Good stuff right there." He hugged her, leaning against her a little. "I don't... I don't think anything else is bad. I'll let you know."    
  
Rather than beating harder, it seemed like his heartbeat had very nearly stopped in all of this. It was slow and faint, Lup could barely feel it under his skin.

She waited until she could hear it speed up to something more consistent before she kissed Barry’s shoulder, his neck, his cheek, squeezing her arm around him tight, and bumping her forehead against the side of his head,    
  
“Let’s get you washed off and into bed, babe.”

 

Barry turned to steal a kiss before grabbing the soap again. He lathered himself down quickly and rinsed just as fast. The moment he finished, he tossed the washcloth back where it had been and turned to kiss her deeply, his hands slightly down her back to cup her ass. Then he grinned.   
  
"Good to go?"

Lup leaned into the kiss, humming contentment, and slid the harness back into its proper position, 

  
“HELL yeah… lemme just-“ sliding away reluctantly, Lup ducked under the spray and scrubbed at her hair, not bothering with any of the soap along the edge of the tub. Stepping out again, she took the towel Barry was holding and grinned, “Now-“    
  
The short walk from the bathroom to Lup’s bedroom took maybe slightly longer than it needed to, as Lup was unwilling to completely stop touching Barry, searching out the spots she’d learned before, and finding bruises that needed refreshening.    
  
As she pulled him in and kicked the door closed, Lup looked up from the hickey she was working on to mutter, “stuff’s in the second nightstand drawer, should be all- all refilled.”

He sat on the edge of the bed, pulling her into his lap and straying kisses over whatever parts of her he could reach as he groped blindly for the drawer. His glasses had been left behind in what was now seeming like not the most brilliant moment of his life. He picked up the bottle of lube and grinned. He ignored the box beside it.

 

“Mmmph, hold on a tick, babe,” Lup reluctantly pulled away from her good good grinding spot on his lap and dug through the drawer, coming up with a condom packet and pair of purple latex gloves .    
“Advances in sex technology- sex....nology, no that’s nothing.”    
  
Crawling back into Barry’s lap, she offered him the gloves, “makes everything slide better, easier cleanup.”

Barry raised an eyebrow somewhat skeptically but took the gloves.   
  
"I know what a condom is, Lup. I'm from the 60s, not the 1600s. You uh... you really wanna use one?"   
  
He was familiar enough with the concept. If he ever saw one more military 'put it on before you put it in' pamphlet, it would be too soon. But he'd never actually had a reason to use one.

 

“Yeeeeaaa _PP_.” Popping her lips on the end of the word, Lup tilted her head at him, lips smiling but eyes serious, “kindaaaa deal breaker there, health and safety stuff.”

He shrugged a little. He wasn't going to argue. "Alright, I guess. I'm gonna just assume there's a history lesson there that I need and uh... and we can talk about that when you're not in my lap being sexy. Deal?"

“Deffo for sure _later_ ,” tossing the packet on the nightstand for easy grabbing, Lup leaned down to bite at Barry’s lip, running her nails down his arms, “now how do you want me, babe?”

With one hand on her lower back, he pulled her closer. "I mean, we uh... we've got all night, right? So uh... sounds like we've got options."   
  
He leaned down to stray kisses across her collarbone, grinning when he saw a bruise there from the night before. He kissed that gently before focusing very intently on leaving a few more.

 

Lup arched up against his mouth, clit dragging along his stomach, whining as the friction was simply not enough,   
“Okay, _ahn-_ ....let me- let me rephrase...”  
  
She ran her fingers through Barry’s hair and down his neck, pulling fingers back along his jaw to tilt his face up to give him a slow, soft kiss.   
  
Pulling her face back just enough to kiss his nose and look him in the eye; “Barry Middle Name Bluejeans, will you _please_ arrange me in such a way that I can get _that_ fantastic dick in _my_ fine ass in the next, mmmmmmmtwenty minutes tops.”

 

"Jacob." He dipped his head down to continue trailing kisses further down her body. He flicked his tongue over one nipple and sucked it into his mouth. "Middle name's Jacob."   
  
Every time she moved against him, it sent another wave of lust coursing through him. He wanted to bend her over the bed and fuck her, he wanted to watch her ride him, fuck, he wanted to hear her moaning for him, he wanted everything. Taking a moment to position himself, he picked her up carefully, and laid her on her back. When he spoke again, his voice was low and husky, dripping with need. "Like this first."

 

“Coolcool, excellent,” Lup’s pupils were nearly wide enough to swallow up the rest of her eyes, her clit twitching when Barry spoke, and she shifted her legs to give him better access.    
“Think you remember how to do this part?”    
  
The question was said teasingly, but the way she reached out to run her thumb over his face suggested it wasn’t necessarily a joke.

“Aside from the part where I still don’t uh... don’t know what the gloves are for...” He muttered that, running his fingers along the inside of her leg. “Gods, you’re beautiful, Lup.”

She giggled, leaning into his touch, “gloves on your hands, lube on that, dork.” She pulled his face closer for a kiss to soften the words.

"Huh... Makes sense."   
  
He returned the kiss and then reached to grab the gloves where he'd abandoned them. He pulled them on with a snap and reached for the bottle of lube to get slick up his fingers. "I can't wait to... to hear you moaning for me, babe."

 

“Oh baller, we’re on the same page,” Lup watched Barry’s movements hungrily, ears swiveling to focus on him as he moved away and back again.    
It was hard, so hard, to lean back to let him work instead of crawling into his lap and on top of him, to sink down and ride him hard....   
  
But the equally hungry look he gave her soothed that part of her. It had been such a long time since she’d been wanted like that.

Pressing two fingers against her opening, Barry leaned in to kiss her again. “Let me know if I go too fast. Don’t wanna hurt you.”   
Then he slid those fingers into her slowly.

Lup leaned into the kiss, swallowing back a whimper.    
“All good here, green lights on- on all panels, _shit,_ Barry that’s-“    
  
She pushed her head back into the pillow, trying to keep her lower half relaxed. There was a burn, but it was a good burn, she wanted more of it.

“Not... not too much?”    
He was back to straying kisses over her chest, needing to touch her, to worship her, to let her know how much he loved her. He didn’t want to rush this, talk of twenty minutes or less aside. Even if his cock was achingly hard and he wanted so badly to feel her around him.

 

It was _achingly_ slow, and Lup was using all her self control not to fuck herself back onto his fingers, “nope, could... could go another, it-“ a thought flashed through her mind, silverfish quick, and she bit down on the back of her hand to stifle the giggle that bubbled up her throat.    
  
Meeting Barry’s gaze, she suddenly realized how that might look, and pulled her hand away to gasp out; “Th- thrusters on full-“ before dissolving into laughter.

Barry snorted with laughter and moved to kiss her. "That is the sexiest, dorkiest thing I have have ever heard."    
He hooked his fingers, thrusting a bit harder and faster rather than add a third finger just yet.

“You got the whole package here,” Lup giggled into his kiss, cutting off with a gasp that moved into a moan at the change of pace,    
“Fuck _yesplease-_ “

He bit his lower lip, trying to will himself more self control. Every moan, every gasp, tugged deep in him and he whimpered quietly.    
"One... one more..." He murmured it quietly, his lips against her skin. And then he slid a third finger into her, keeping to the same pace.

Lup’s mouth went slack, her head lolling back, keening softly as she adjusted to the stretch. Slowly, one trembling leg came up to push against the mattress, leveraging her against Barry’s fingers, clit unattended and leaking.

  
He hummed low in his throat, watching her. "Gods, that's sexy." Then he adjusted, kneeling between her legs so he could stroke her clit while he thrust his fingers into her.

 

She gasped, high and sharp, when Barry touched her, her clit twitching hard in his hand.    
“C-careful, that’s.... that’s going to push things along real fast if you- _hng!_ ” Lup arched up against him, biting down on her lip and twisting her fists in the sheets.

"I know." He smiled as he said it. Then he looked around for the bottle of lube again and remembered the condom. "Stay just like that, babe. Gotta..." He moved away from her reluctantly, going to get the packet from the nightstand.

 

Lup grumbled in her throat as she rose up on an elbow to reach for the (just out of range) condom,    
“Magical... hand, extender thingie.... go!-” she waved her hand and there was a lot of nothing happening.    
Groaning, she flopped back and watched Barry pick it up, ears going from alert to relaxed as he came back.    
“Someday I’ll figure out how to do something like that, and then the world will tremble.”

Barry chuckled quietly. "The peasants of the world will bow down before your... extender hand thingie." Then he frowned a little, tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth. "Can you help me with this thing? Don't wanna tear it."

 

She sat up and held out a hand for it, tearing carefully, and pushing his hand out of the way to roll it on him herself, sighing happily at being able to touch however briefly.    
Grinning into Barry’s face, Lup darted up to kiss his chin and scooted back into the pillows,    
“How’s this?”

He leaned over her, kissing her deeply for a long moment. "Perfect." He grabbed the bottle of lube again and poured some into his hand, watching her while he stroked himself to get his cock nice and slicked for her. "You're perfect."

Lup’s face as he pulled away was open, her eyes wide and shining with unspoken emotion, ears flared low.    
“Gods, you’re amazing,” she blinked several times, trying to get her eyes and voice under control, “Just- just c’mere, please?”

 

He tossed the bottle aside and went to her. Pressing the tip of his cock against her opening. "Ready, babe?"

“Yeah, for sure, can you please just-“ Lup reached out a leg to hook around his waist, hands sliding up Barry’s chest, along his shoulders, cupping at his neck.

He chuckled quietly. "Just wanted to be sure." Then he entered her with a soft whimper.

Lup matched his whimper with her own inhale, keeping Barry tight against her until she felt herself adjust and relax. Her head fell back again, letting out a long exhale, “Fuck that’s.... that’s good.” Sitting up, she caught Barry’s mouth against hers, “You’re so good, babe.”

He returned that kiss and adjusted slightly, getting a firm grip on her hips with both hands. Then he rolled his hips against hers, slowly, almost lazily. "How do you want it, babe? Tell me how you like it."

Lup huffed, tilting her hips against Barry’s, “That’s... that’s a good start there, it’s, uh, it’s been a bit.”    
She wavered, not sure if she wanted to be up near his face or laying down.

He leaned in to kiss her again, solving her dilemma as he pushed her down with him. His hands slid around to the small of her back as he rocked into her, staying at that slow gentle pace for now. Just that was almost too much for him as it was.

 

The pace and the closeness, feeling the gentleness everywhere he touched her, made Lup’s chest feel full to bursting. She almost wanted to yank at the straps of Barry’s harness and demand he pound into her until they are both gasping, all fallen apart and breathless. This soft gentle..... love-making was too much already, drawing up the bubbling light feeling through her whole body, leaving no room to be ignored, she ached with it;   
  
And yet and yet and yet....   
  
She buried her face into his shoulder, letting out small gasps and moans at the slow push-pull, her clit rubbing between their bodies with every movement.

There was something to be said for fifty years of not having physical sensation and how sensitive it would leave a person. A low whine escaped Barry as he fought the inevitable. She felt so good around him, felt like they fit together perfectly. He was aware of every place their bodies touched, every point of heat against his skin. With one hand still solidly on her lower back to hold her close against him, he reached a hand between them to stroke her clit.    
  
"Pl-please, Lup... Please."

 

The sudden addition of Barry's hand made Lup full body shudder, and the vague realization she was already close, having been too focused on the emotional sensations to be fully aware of the physical ones. Barry's pleading brings her back and she rocks against him, up into his hand,   
  
"There- right there, gods, but that's good, Bear-"   
  
She adds her hand to his, moving his hand in a rhythm she likes, breath coming quicker in tiny whimpers.

His thin control broke then and he moaned her name, lips pressed against her skin as he thrust harder and faster. He found the edge and crested over it, his back arching as he snapped his hips against hers.

The furious pace after such a long slow buildup shook through Lup, her hand barely moving when she tried to rock her hips against Barry's as he gasped her name. Her orgasm was sudden and crashed through her, spilling across her chest as she slowly came down again, gulping for air.

Barry held her close, kissing a trail down her neck. “That... That was...” He couldn’t seem to find the right word, and honestly he didn’t care.

“Fuckin’ amazing,” Lup agreed, running her fingers through Barry’s hair and tugging him up for a kiss.    
They lay there for a few minutes, basking together, Lup running her hand up and down Barry’s back and enjoying the feel of his heart beat, until finally she wriggled under him, pushing lightly at his chest.    
  
“Babe, I love you, but I gotta clean this mess off before I actually fall asleep.”

He laughed softly and leaned in for a kiss. “Yeah, that’s definitely a good idea.” He moved to sit on the edge of the bed, stretching to try and loosen his shoulders. Then he looked down and started laughing again. “Make it two for clean-up, babe.”

“Fuck and we just got you showered,” Lup giggled and dug into her drawer, pulling out a package of wipes and tossing them on the bed. 

  
  
Once everything was acceptably de-cummed, she flopped back on the bed, making grabby hands for him,    
“Round two after a nap, now is the cuddle time.”

"Definitely liking the sounds of cuddle time." He snuggled against her, one hand tracing idle patterns on her thigh. Then, with his face buried in against her shoulder, he whispered quietly. "I love you, Lup."

Lup was running her fingers along his chest, enjoying the texture and lingering smells of sex and sweat when she caught his whisper. Her ear flicked against him, accidentally whapping Barry’s forehead.    
  
“Oh good!” she turned her head to kiss the side of his neck, “me too, I love you too- I’m glad....”

He couldn't help but laugh, the sound maybe even a little relieved. Then he hugged her tightly.   
  
"Love you so much, Lup."    
  
His hands were still a bit chill, but the core of him was warm and his heart was beating in his chest.

Lup nuzzled in against him, a soft purr starting in her chest, moving up her throat. Barry’s arms were around her and he loved her and she loved him and she was warm and safe and to be honest very thoroughly well fucked.    
  
Her purr deepened as she closed her eyes and let herself drift.

Barry stayed awake just a bit longer, humming quietly in an echo of her purr. He ran gentle hands over her skin, quietly marveling at the fact that he was here and now and all of this was so very real. He kissed her once more and murmured another soft "I love you" as he faded into sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

Lup slept for an hour before coming awake enough to debate slipping into meditation or poke Barry awake again for round two.   
  
Hm, call of nature before either decision.    
  
Crawling over him to the bathroom brought to mind the phrase ‘dead to the world’, so round two probably wasn’t a viable option right now. Well, he  _ did _ have fifty years of sleep to catch up on...  
  
Energy had started to crackle under her skin, getting her more and more awake, so instead of heading back to the bed when she was done, Lup walked over to the hamper and started sorting things. Might as well make use of the nervous energy.

Barry sat up, blinking blearily in the darkness of the room. The spot next to him was still warm so Lup hadn't been gone very long. He reached for his glasses on the nightstand, only to remember they were in the bathroom still. That was a problem for future Barry.    
  
"Lup?" He rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand. "What are you doing? What time is it?"

“Insomnia o’clock,” Lup finished separating clothes into two string bags and dug into the desk next to the hamper for quarters. “Gonna wash these, wanna come?”

"Yeah, sure. Sounds good, babe. Lemme just... Glasses. Definitely need those,” he slid out of the bed and grabbed his jeans, pulling them on before reaching for his shirt, "Is it weird that like... I'm getting nostalgia from the idea of  _ doing laundry?" _

Lup grinned at him affectionately, “Well, in  _ this _ case, I can promise it hasn’t changed half as much as the rest of the world.”    
  
The building laundry room was set in the middle of the complex, fluorescent lighting over three rows of washers of varying sizes and a wall of dryers. At a little past midnight, it was almost empty, the only other person being a halfling in a hugely oversized hoodie dozing next to the dryers.    
Lup commandeered two of the middling washers and dumped both her loads in, white in one, colors in the other and set them going.

Barry looked around the room, smiling to himself as a distant memory tugged at him, "You were right. It's uh... it's almost like... When I got my first apartment, I was starting grad school and well, my mom sort of freaked out about me finally being on my own. But it had a laundry room a lot like this one. I don't even know how many nights I spent doing homework down there while the dryer ran."

As the washers did their thinking hum, Lup pulled him over to the folding tables and hopped up on one,    
  
“Yeah, it’s weird how consistent these things have been,” her ears tilted ironically, “...and this is probably the first one me and ‘Ko have been consistently actually putting real coin in the slots....” Her casual tone and posture didn’t match the way her eyes flicked at him with this admission.

Barry laughed. "If I could've figured out how to cheat them, believe me, I would've. It was the 50s. If I could've uh... found a way to stick it to the man, believe me, I would've taken it."   
  
Sitting next to her, he rested his head on her shoulder. "I may not look it now, but I was uh... I was a troublemaker back in the day."

Lup snorted, the tension going out of her shoulders somewhat, and she rests her head on his, “Super easy, honestly, you just need a couple sturdy cotton swab thingies? Stick ‘em in the slots and it trips the mechanism, no magic needed. Taako figured it out something like a week after those started popping up.”    
  
Turning, she kissed the top of his head before laying hers back again, “and  _ what _ did you get up to during your wild college years? Besides discovering dudes are hot,  _ that’s _ just par for the course.”

Barry snorted. "Not in the fifties, it wasn't. But uh... Let's see... I mean, uh... We got in a whole lot of trouble when we were launching these little rockets we'd made on campus." He gestured something about a foot and a half long. "You know, we uh... welded the little guys out of some spare pipes and machined the fuel nozzles custom. Then uh... then we mixed up our own fuel. We didn't get in trouble until one of them crashed into a building?" 

He started laughing then. "You should've seen the look on Edward's  _ face _ though. And Keats was laughing like an idiot."   
  
Then Barry went quiet. "Sorry... I didn't mean to uh..."

Lup listened to him quietly, leaning back to be able to see something of Barry’s face as he talked and gestured. When he faltered to a stop, she squeezed his shoulder tightly,    
“Hey... Hey no one’s asking you to pretend he wasn’t in your life....” She leaned her head back against his, “Who’s Keats?”

"Their little brother. He was uh... He was a good kid. Brought out the best in both of them, you know? I don't think... I don't think Lydia cared about anyone as much as she cared about Keats, not even Edward. I mean... You know, she and Edward are twins and they're closer than anything but Keats was so much younger than them? It was like... They practically raised him. And uh... and well..."   
  
Barry exhaled slowly. "I guess he decided that since... since we'd just started at uh... at the lab, working on space program stuff and all that... He wanted to do something too. Serve his country, all that. Poor kid had just turned eighteen and... and he enlisted. He uh... he was a Marine. They were so proud, you know? Then '65 rolled around and..."

“ _ Shit _ ....” Lup breathed out, “ _ Fuck _ , that’s... gods, that was a shit show...”    
she squeezed Barry’s shoulders even tighter, “...I guess I... well, a  _ little _ empathy for ‘em there...”   
She hesitated, “How... when did-“

"January of '66. I never learned the details. I... didn't want to ask. I... I'd never seen Edward and Lydia like that and I was afraid to ask what happened. They... they got the telegram in the beginning of February. I remember seeing it in their kitchen. I was uh... sleeping there. Lydia woke us up when she answered the door and..." He leaned into her hug and put an arm around her waist. "I didn't think either of them would ever smile again."

Two dozen sarcastic comments jumped to the front of Lup’s tongue and pushing them back felt like swallowing glass; but she managed it and hugged Barry tighter instead, “That’s so fucked up, Bear...” she hesitated again,    
“I guess.... I guess that would account for, um, behavior changing a.... a lot.”

"Yeah... yeah... I mean, a lot of it was the same but... Yeah."   
  
Barry took a breath. "Looking back, things... definitely changed but... I guess I just figured it was because the poor guy lost his baby brother but... There were also things he wasn't doing before that that weren't... great."

“Yeah, I mean-“ Lup’s mouth twisted a little, “... generally when people get murdery after someone they love dies, it’s usually towards the people that killed ‘em, Y’know?”    
  
She squeezed Barry again, staring off into the middle distance,    
“I mean- fuck, we were in Canada then, and even me n ‘Ko watched friends go off and not come back....”    
  
She paused, mind flicking back over the decades,    
“Which, by the by, we were up there  _ before _ Vietnam, just... just eff why eye.”

"Even if you had left because of the war, I'd get it. That was... that was a shit show. If I wasn't working for the space program, you can bet I would've been out there protesting with... with everybody else."

Lup turned to kiss his forehead again, ear flicking towards the washing machines as they started to whirr into their spin cycles.    
The halfling by the dryers leaned forward and jolted awake, getting up creakingly to unload their dried things and shuffle out the door.    
  
Lup swung her legs to keep them from falling asleep and let her eyes drift close for a bit, the warm air smelling of detergent and lint, the lukewarm feeling of Barry’s body next to her lulled her into a half-trance, and a soft purr started in her chest.

Barry smiled, closing his eyes and relaxing as she purred. An echoing hum started deep in his throat. It was warm here and the mix of that and the quiet was threatening to put him to sleep there and then.

It took a moment for Lup to parse what she was hearing, and another to recall this wasn’t even the first time. She cracked an eye open, not willing to move enough to actually be able to see him yet,    
“Are you... is that you?”

The question startled him and he opened his eyes. "Is what me?"

Lup moved her face to press against the side of Barry’s neck, catching the last vibration of his question, her ears flipping forward in curiosity, “ _ Are you trying to purr? _ ” it was said in a whisper, as if she really couldn’t believe what she was saying.

He blushed brightly and made an embarrassed, noncommittal sound. Then he gave her a tiny smile. "Yes?"

“ _ Holy shit _ ,” she paused as the washers  _ blaatted _ the end of their cycle, and pressed a series of kisses to Barry’s throat, “ _ That’s the cutest fucking thing I’ve ever heard _ ”

"Wait,  _ what?" _ He started laughing. "Babe, that tickles!"

Encouraged, Lup kept kissing, even as a huge grin split her face and made it harder, “Mmmmnope, can’t stop, gotta make my adorable boyfriend  _ purr _ again in his fucking adorable human way.”

"You don't think it's weird?" Barry sounded a little uncertain now.

She kissed his throat once more, right where his pulse fluttered a soft but still steady beat and pulled back to kiss his nose, before sliding off the folding table to move their clothes to the dryer,    
  
“My dude, Barry, babe-if I was gonna be put off by the weird shit you have going on, I think I would have been stopped around ‘dead for fifty years’ or ‘legit enjoyed 2001: A Space Odyssey”    
  
She threw a teasing look over her shoulder.

The blush across his cheeks brightened and he stood to go help her.   
  
"I picked the habit up like... uh... sixty-ish years ago? The uh... I liked the whole purring thing but humans don't and I sort of... I guess I thought it was like a social thing? I don't know... I just... I tried to learn. If that makes any sense." He shrugged a little. "Lydia made fun of me for it, but in the friend-teasing kind of way most of the time."

Lup’s ears pressed back at the name, but she flicked them into a neutral position almost instantly, her grin never wavering as she sorted the clothes into a large ‘to throw in the dryer’ pile and small ‘Taako will absolutely try to kick my ass if I don’t hang dry these’ pile.    
  
“I mean... it’s kinda social? Only with people you really like, though... never really, uh, had more than a handful of people at a time that - Well, it’s cute you do it, and I love it.”

Barry started putting things from the dryer pile into a free dryer, “I’m glad, honestly. I don’t know that I could uh... that I could train myself back out of it, even if I wanted to.”

Lup giggled as she fed quarters into it, “No worries, babe. I knew you were a dork when i met you anyway.” Her grin moved from ‘affectionate’ to ‘shit-eating’ , “-knew it from the minute you threw a  _ butter knife _ at me ~ ”

“You’re never gonna let that butter knife die, are you?”   
  
But he was grinning. He turned as the dryer started running and hugged her tightly.    
  
“And you’re the one who started... started rating my haunting skills. So, you know what.”    
  
He kissed her lightly, “We can just both be dorks.”

" _ Listen _ ," their teeth clacked as she couldn't help gigging and Lup gave up and buried her face in Barry's neck, "I'm never gonna find that not funny. I'll be fuckety hundred years old in an old folk's home and the nurses will be like 'we don't know why but if you say 'butter knife' at her, she cackles and speeds away in her hover scooter."

"And I'll be right there, leaving butter knives laying around just to make you laugh,” Barry rested his forehead against her shoulder.    
  
"I think, in the long run, that's the one big perk of me already being dead. I uh... I can't exactly die on you."

"Mmmmmmmmmm-" Lup nuzzled along Barry's neck, hands snaking around his waist, "See, this is what Arwen  _ should _ have done, just make her husband all ghosty, no fucking walking the dying forest for centuries alone."

Barry laughed quietly. "Somehow, I feel like the uh... the end of Return of the King would lose a lot if Aragorn was fucking dead, babe."

“Naaah, like,  _ after _ . Have him haunt Minas Tirith and make comments to his great great whatever grandkids.” 

"A hundred years later, there's like a orc rights movement. Ghost-agorn is freaking out because 'back in my day'. Yeah, I'd read that."

Barry closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth of her against him and the quiet of the night, as Lup buried her face into his shoulder. It was the perfect height to lean her head on, like he was made for her, and Lup could close her eyes and enjoy the rumble of his chest against hers and the vibration from his throat against her face.    
She drifted for a good five minutes before coming fully awaken with a start.   
  
“Oh shit, sorry babe. Guess I found a cure for insomnia.”

He had noticed the slight change in her breathing patterns as she drifted off and his smile turned tender.    
"If you wanna head up and go to bed, I can wait for the dryer. It should be done soon."

“No I’m fine I’m good I can wait,” Lup kissed his neck and pulled away, not really wanting to move out of Barry’s arms, but making herself slide down the wall into a sitting position; still didn’t let go of his hand though.    
  
“You’re a very good teddy bear, y’know,” she flashed him a grin as she said it.

He let himself be pulled down, resting his back against the wall and putting an arm around her shoulders.   
"I like that one. Teddy Bear." He kissed the tip of her nose. "If uh... if you were looking for a good nickname still, I think you found it."

Lup smiled and chased him for a real kiss, humming into his mouth,   
“I’ll add it to the pile.”    
  
As far as romantic visuals went, making out on the floor of a laundromat at one am wouldn’t have ranked high on Lup’s list of hypotheticals;    
  


But in this moment she didn’t think she could have been happier.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a delay there, folks! Couldn't find the time to edit this one like it needed, but here y'all go.

It was still early enough to be dark when Lup’s phone buzzed, startling her out of the comfortable position curled into Barry’s chest. Grumbling, she reached as far over him as she could without moving, and failed to be able to get even halfway there.   
She groaned and shoved her face back in his shoulder, “Who the _fuck?_ ”

Barry blinked into wakefulness and grumbled something half-hearted about it being too early. He tried to reach and knocked something off the nightstand before his hand closed on her phone. "Shit... Don't know what that was... not sure I care yet." Handing her the phone, he closed his eyes again.

Lup blinked in the too-bright light at the caller ID, her brain fuzzy and eyes trying to adjust out of dark vision. The screen read **Caution: GB Noelle** , so she _probably_ needed to answer it.   
  
Tapping the green button, she growled into it, “hello hi yes, this is an elf speaking and reminding you all normal things require _sleep_.”

 

"The necessity of sleep is an illusion if you're not a coward. Also, hi. I finished the scooper and we are one hundred percent ready to go bust some... well, some necromancers, I guess. Which really isn't as exciting as saying we're ready to bust some ghosts. There's a lack of assonance that just leaves it with a less than great mouth-feel."  
  
Barry opened his eyes again, very slowly, and blinked a few times. He could hear Noelle on the phone and he was staring at Lup in open confusion. Then he slowly mouthed the words 'what. the. Fuck?'

 

Lup reluctantly pulled away from him to sit up properly, rubbing her face, "For the love of any and all gods, don't share your caffeine secrets with Taako." Her hand rubbed over the now scabbed scratches on her face, and she winced, "Did you call me first? Please tell me you haven't called Davenport at-" she checked her phone, " _four thirty_ in the morning, he signs my pay stubs...."

 

"Of course I called you first." There was a moment of silence and then Noelle spoke again. "Honestly, he scares the piss out of me. No one can be that serious all the time. It's not natural. But yeah, the scoop's done and even portable. So, whenever you're ready. We're good to go."  
  
Barry flopped onto his back, mouthing 'four thirty' over and over like it was a personal affront.

 

"Yeah, generally Merle has to break out the good stuff first," Lup blinked slowly, realizing her brain to mouth filter was not yet set properly in place. "Okay....okay thank you, _but_ I'm not going to a literal demon haunted house when it's _dark_ , I will meet _you_ guys at your place at _seven_ . An _actual morning_ time."

 

"Yeah, I guess that works. Gives me time to track down Julia. Oh! And make sure you charge Barry before you leave the house. It's good for normal activity but he should _probably_ have a full charge before facing magic users. Do you have Magnus' number? I texted Jules and she's not responding."

 

"Yeah right, will do," Lup's lips twitched at that, "Yeah, imagine that, people not responding during sleeping hours. I'll....text Maggie when we leave the house."

 

"Cowards." There was an insistent beeping in the background. "Okay, gotta go. See you in... 2 hours."

 

"Two and a _hal-_ " Lup stared at her phone, then tossed it on the covers, and pulled a pillow over her face, groaning.

Barry rolled to his side, putting an arm around her waist. "Just meditate." He was mumbling. "You need to be awake later. S'important."

 

The idea of curling back around Barry and slipping into a half aware state of being safe and cozy with his arm around her was intensely appealing, but Lup only managed a few minutes of trying to focus her breathing before giving it up as a bad job.   
Energy was fizzing under her skin, stoked anger feeding into magic that rose to just behind her eyes and fingertips, wanting to be _used_ , to have a _target_ .   
  
Sitting up, she crawled over Barry’s legs to the edge of the bed, sliding off and padding to the bathroom where at least she wouldn’t be twitching and bug him.

 

Barry had fallen back to sleep almost immediately and he didn't wake up again until the alarm to _actually_ get up went off. He made a grumbly noise into the pillow and reached for an alarm clock that didn't exist, momentarily forgetting he wasn't at home. When his hand hit empty nightstand, he sat up. Right, Lup's room. And his glasses were still in the bathroom from last night. With a sigh, he stumbled through getting dressed and went to go find his glasses.

 

The bathroom was empty and there was a light on in the kitchen, the sound of a gurgling coffee maker drifting down the hall. Lup stood at the stove, pushing scrambled eggs in a pan, and glancing occasionally at the little electromagnetic battery on the kitchen table.   
  
Every so often she would hold out a hand to snap her fingers and a small pinch of a flame would flare up from between them. This was done unthinkingly, in a nervous tic way.

Barry had washed his face around grabbed his glasses before moving to the kitchen. He leaned against the door for a moment, just enjoying the quiet and watching her cook. Then his eyebrows came together, forming a little worried crease on his forehead.   
  
"Morning, babe."   
  
He said it quietly, not wanting to startle her while she cooked. Then he stepped up behind her, resting his hands on her hips, and kissed her cheek, "Everything okay?"

 

Lup’s ear had flicked back when Barry appeared in the door, but she kept her focus on finishing and plating the eggs. When she felt his hands around her waist, she shook herself out of her thoughts and gave him a small smile, leaning into the touch,   
“Yeah for sure, Hey we’re going to need to use that-“ a nod to the battery, “to charge your thing up before we leave. Should be fun; apparently you might make things float. Also, how that will work outside your house is going to be fun to figure out.”

 

"Oh well, that's exciting." He rested his head against her shoulder. "Like zero g mild floating or more like uh... more like flinging stuff across the room like last night? Because I'm thinking _maybe_ we shouldn't charge this thing with me in the same room as the knives."   
  
He gestured towards the butcher block sitting on the counter, "Especially since it sounds like I'm not gonna be... in control of it so much?"

 

“Good plan that,” Lup muttered and leaned her head against his, eyes drifting closed as she tried to recapture the peacefulness of last night. She was _here_ , Barry was a warm and solid and rumbling presence at her back, there was coffee smell drifting through the air...   
  
Nope, the rage churning in her stomach would not be shoved down again, it knew it would be let out soon and wanted that _now_ .   
  
Exhaling hard through her nose, Lup turned in Barry’s arms and kissed him thoroughly, before reaching for the plates of eggs.   
  
“Food first, we figure out the recharge, then I’ll put on some clothes and we can go.”

 

"Sounds good,” He went to grab two mugs to pour the coffee and paused, "So... what _is_ the plan? I mean... The parts you can tell me, I guess."   
  
He was understandably nervous, all things considered. There was still a part of him that was almost... Well, not _reluctant._ He wanted nothing to do with Edward ever again. But he also wasn't sure how he would react to seeing him again, if it came to that. Would he freeze? What would he even be able to do? What if Edward found a way to take all of _this_ from him too?

 

Lup set the plates down and sat slowly at the table, rubbing a forefinger into a knot in the grain as she thought how to phrase everything.   
  
“Um... you and I will be going back to your house..... hoping that calls, uh, your shitty roommate back and- .... and the, uh, the _other_ twins... Noelle has a thing that we think will help us, hmmmm, detangle... you.... from them magically....better if you’re all in the same space....”   
  
She squinted and considered this from the angle of the parasite.... yes, that seemed enough information with a slight misdirection. Cool. Cool cool cool....

 

Barry nodded slowly and set a cup of coffee in front of her, "Makes sense. I guess..." He dropped into what he was starting to think of as his seat and took a sip of his coffee, "They're not going to go down without a fight. You know that right?"

 

Lup snorted, folding her hands around the mug and feeling the heat seep into through her hands to join the energy buzzing there, “yeah no shit. We’ve got a game plan for that too, and Taako and I have tricks up our sleeves we’ve been using for decades, babe.” She gave him a short, tight smile, “I’m not stupid, just... just really fuckin angry, is all.”

 

"I... I didn't say I thought... I know you can handle yourself, I just... I'm just scared, I guess. About the whole thing." He was pushing his breakfast around the plate more than really eating it, even though it was delicious. "There's no much I can do other than be there and... and I'm not... If something happens and I can't do anything..."

 

Lup gave him a real smile then, “Don’t sell yourself too short there, babe. Hell, we’re going to be on _your_ home turf and that’s gotta count for _something...._ ”   
She sipped her coffee and took a moment to appreciate that it was made how she liked it, that Barry was looking at her across her table, the light of dawn barely creeping in the window over the sink and casting soft edges to everything.   
  
The yawning pit of rage in her gut shifted, given shape and purpose now; the parasite might know hunger, but Lup _craved_ . She craved with an intensity that might have scared her a few months ago, before she met Barry, before she knew what it was she wanted and had a taste of _having_ .   
  
She looked at him, pupils blown wide and the scratches on her cheek standing out starkly as her smile turned a little feral;   
“Besides,” she tried to keep her tone light, “I kinda want you and your house for myself, and _they_ don’t deserve either of those.”

 

For a moment, Barry sat there in awe of her. She was so much, so good, so strong. And she wanted him, she loved him.   
  
"Maybe... maybe there is something I can do. We'll see."   
  
Then he felt a hot blush on his cheeks and grinned. He could feel his heart beat pounding in his chest as he thought about it, his mind conjuring scenes much like this but there instead. He'd never thought he would have anything like that in his life. Real happiness and love and honestly to goodness domesticity.   
  
"Wait, wait, are you uh... are you talking about like... us living together? In my old house? Like... like..." He was grinning like an idiot.

Lup’s smile became less toothy and more genuine, and she giggled into her coffee,   
“Hell yeah, we’ll get goats and a cat and fix up that shed in the back, it’ll be disgustingly normal.”   
  
She finished her coffee and went to dump the rest of her eggs, “just have to kick out the squatters first.”   
  
There were dishes, but the angle of the sun reminded her she _did_ actually give them a time limit and she left them in the sink for later... which there _would_ be.

"I wonder if they're gonna make me pay the uh... the back taxes or whatever? How do you explain 'I was dead but I'm mostly better now' to... to the electric company?"

 

“You HAVE occupied it for more than three months, it’s probably still yours by default.”  
  
Leaning down to kiss Barry’s cheek, Lup left for the bedroom to change into sturdy clothes and grab her charm kit, “Hold on, I’m gonna grab something, I have an idea about taking off your harness.”

 

He chuckled quietly and followed her to finish getting dressed. Picking up the NASA shirt, he grinned and pulled it on. For a moment, he just stood there and then he sighed. Right, still had to charge the powerpack. And maybe he could use that time to figure out what he was bringing to this fight beyond a healthy dose of reckless stupidity and knowing Edward.

  
Lup came in then, a chunk of opal in her hand, “Here, this is an old ward stone. I figure if I can like,” she waved a hand, “Put it AROUND you, should be fine until the thingie charges.”

 

“Uh... Yeah, sure, that sounds...” He paused for a moment, trying to find a diplomatic way to say _absolutely terrifying_. Then he settled on “Sure, let’s try it.”

 

She focused on the opal, the leftover bits of her and Taako’s magic flickering to life as she pushed a thread of her power into it, and the opal glowed a steady amber light that spread and surrounded the two of them.   
  
Undoing the belt, he started to shrug out of it and then it dropped straight through him to the floor with a thud. For a moment, everything seemed alright. Then every light in the entire apartment building turned on and the radio flickered to life with nothing but the sound of static.

 

Lup yelped as her dim bedroom suddenly flared into light, and she could hear similar yelps from their upstairs neighbor. Her whole body _fizzed_ on top of her skin, not under it, and her mind pulled the memory of the basement, of being floating in the air on currents of unfamiliar energy.   
  
Stumbling out of her room, she grabbed the magnet off the table, sprinting back to her room and attached it to the harness, her ears standing straight up and twitching.

Barry waved nervously from inside the amber bubble,   
  
"Sorry, babe." He looked uneasily at the charging harness, "Are... are you okay?"   
  
“It’s cool! We’re all good here! This is fine!” Lup gnawed her lip and watched the power pack blink slowly past half charged.   
Well, that was no good to just stare at for the however many minutes it would take.   
  
"Maybe... Maybe we should consider a warded room in the basement. At uh... at the house. So I've got somewhere to go while that thing charges," Barry had sat on the floor as best he could, experimentally trying to see if he could control his powers enough to lift things. A sock launched across the room and bumped harmlessly against the wall. His control wasn't...great.

 

Walking into the living room, Lup grimaced as she could feel their normal wards flexing uncomfortably; they had been made to withstand and absorb surges of power from _out_ side the apartment, and she could feel them being pushed outside their boundaries and snapping back into place.   
  
That was no good, she and Taako didn’t need any possibility of backlash _today_ ...   
  
She touched an anchor, (a ceramic binicorn Taako had spent hours carving runes and formulae into the base of) and experimentally called the fizzing on her skin _inwards_.

 _Instead of pushing out_ , she suggested, _why not travel along these lines instead? Very good and well worn lines, twined with two other power sources already?_   
  
The power stemming out of Barry curved and ran along the lines of power, fizzing and humming as it mixed in with what was there. It was an odd feeling, cold and sharp, electrical even. And there seemed to be no shortage of it.

Lup shivered as she felt the power run over her skin and through her. At least it seemed to have stopped running into the lights now that it had a direct path; Explaining Things to the property management was _always_ to be avoided…

  
“Probably a good idea.... seems like you could power those wards yourself, babe.”   
  
She peered into her room, amused to note that his new shirt had been brought along into the spirit world or whatever, “Can you feel that?”

 

"Feel what?"  
  
Barry was sitting on the floor still, a pair of socks floating in the air in front of him. He turned to smile at her, "I don't... I don't feel anything?"   
  
He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to figure out if there was something he was missing. After a long moment, he opened them again and shrugged, "Maybe something tickles a little, but I don't uh... I don't know?"

 

“Huh,” Lup sat next to him, already missing the ability to lean into his shoulder, and grabbed paper and pen out of her top night stand drawer. After tapping her lip in thought, she sketched out a small circle for sustained light, and turned her attention to what she was now thinking of as a stream of energy running through her. Frowning, she asked very carefully for a small diversion from _that_ line into _this_ one. _Just a small amount, the rest can keep going_.

The spell circle lifted off the paper and formed a small ball of pale blue light that hung in the air.  
  
Barry turned towards her, curious. He didn't seem bothered in the slightest. His form didn't flicker a bit and he just looked interested. He didn't feel a thing.   
"That's really neat. But uh... Shouldn't you be saving energy or whatever for later? I mean... it's a limited resource, isn't it?"

Lup tilted an ear towards him, not looking away from the light, “Mmmm, I think I’ll be fine...”  
  
Leaving the witch light floating there, Lup got up and walked to one of their house charms for keeping away cockroaches. It was a cheap thing, power wise and could be replaced every few months. Reaching out, she touched it and carefully diverted another trickle from the stream.

It seemed like the stream would just keep coming no matter how much she drew from it. It was like trying to drain the ocean.   
  
The harness beeped twice signaling that it was done charging and Barry stood up, letting the socks fall back to the floor. Well, one of them fell to the floor. The other shot out the door and hit the wall with a light thump.   
  
"Time to go?"

 

"Yeah, hangon....." Lup picked up the harness and unclipped the battery. Holding it out to Barry, she tilted her head to watch the witch light, curious to see what would happen now that she was paying attention.

 

The light was still floating there as Barry willed himself solid enough to take the harness. It took effort and focus but soon he had the harness fully on and shrugged his shoulders a few times, making sure it was sitting right. Once Lup had picked up the opal and dismissed the ward, he could pick up the socks he'd been playing with before and sat on the edge of the bed to pull them on.  
  
"So, going over to meet Noelle and company first? Is uh... is that the plan?"   
  
The light was still there and still giving off the same amount of pale blue light.

"Mmm? Oh, yeah, I should text Magnus and see if he and Julia had a nice night...." Lup was only half paying attention, the obvious fizzing along her skin had faded, but now that she was looking for it, she could feel power moving into her spell and the wards. Not at the same unrestrained rushing flow as before; steadier, as if it had been channeled.   
"Hey babe? _Quick_ question, did you ever, uuhhhh, take any magic classes when you were a kid? Get tested or anything?"

 

Barry shrugged a little. "No? I didn't show any signs so uh... so Mom didn't bother." He grabbed his sneakers and started pulling them on. When he spoke again, he sounded almost defensive. "It was the Depression. We didn't exactly have money to throw around on the... the off chance I might be able to do a few little things. And if I could do anything bigger, I would've had outbursts of it or whatever."  
  
Standing up, he grabbed his windbreaker and slung it on.

 

"Mhm, mhm, and when did you start, like, math classes?" Lup picked up her bag of charms slowly, getting out her phone to text Magnus, still feeling around for the stream of power and if she could divert it to other places. It was right there when she reached for it, still humming with a muted cold electricity feeling.

 

"When I was like... 4. Mom taught me at home before... before I started kindergarten. It was like a game,” he walked up behind her as he said this and hugged her around the waist. Then he kissed the side of her neck. Humming quietly, he stayed there for a moment.   


Lup leaned into him, enjoying his re-physicality and wondering how she missed the power humming over him before. It was subtle, but once she knew where to reach for it, it came, eager and pliant to go where she sent it.   
  
"So, cool news; your ghost powers can probably be controlled. Side note; it's because they probably aren't ghost powers, you were just magic the whole time."

Barry’s head snapped up and he laughed awkwardly.  
  
"That's... what? Lup, that doesn't make any sense. I... I didn't... I've never... I can't... If I had magic, wouldn't it have... leaked out? Or whatever?"

 

"Not always, sometimes you find a place to channel it and it stays there, happy. But uh, this is deffo magic I'm using, and it's not _mine_."

  
She turned in Barry's arms and looped an arm around his neck, kissing his cheek.   
"You can't feel me using it? You were banging down the wards, and you're charging half the charms in the apartment, babe."

"I was doing _what??"_   
  
He looked around, more than a little confused. The witchlight was still hovering in the bedroom and the blue light reflected off the wall in the hall. When he spoke again, he sounded chagrined and a little worried.   
  
"I can't feel a thing..."

 

That got a frown, "Okay, we're fixing that before we leave. Siddown."  
  
She sent Magnus a quick text asking if he'd seen Julia (winky face) and sat down, legs folded tailor style.   
  
"You have to find where it's coming from, otherwise it'll just keep pouring out of you. And it's _super_ cool that I can use it? But that means other people...can....too......" A slow look of dawning horror drifted across her face, before she snapped back to focus on him. ".....So we should, uh, shut that shit _down_."

 

Barry sat down in front of her, looking at her curiously. He was still trying to figure out what feeling she was talking about. Nothing felt different, but then if it had always been there... he supposed he wouldn't have felt anything unusual. It would have always been there, wouldn't it have?  
  
"So... How uh... how do I doooo that?" Then he frowned a little, seeing the look on her face. "Is something wrong?"

Lup chewed her lip, staring into the middle distance before swinging her attention back to him, "Something to uh, something to think about _later_ I think.   
_So_ -"   
  
She reached out and took his hands, "Uh hm....gonna need you to close your eyes and focus on your heartbeat....this was made for alive folks," she gave him an ironic grin, "mostly what you're doing is looking _inward_ , right? Body is connected to spirit, and in _your_ case it's, uhhhh, made of it."

 

He closed his eyes and grinned a little. "Look inward and focus on my heartbeat. I mean, it's sort of hard to miss after fifty years of not hearing it."  
  
Focusing inwards, his frown deepened. He understood what she was trying to get him to do but he couldn't figure out the practical aspects of it. Opening his eyes again, he sighed a little.

Lup leaned forward and kissed his nose, "Okay, let's try this at another angle....so when you were trying to make those socks float, what were you doing?"

 

"This is gonna sound... dumb. But uh... I used to read comics about ghosts and stuff. So I just sort of... assumed I _should_ be able to do things. And when I tried, its... I think about the physics. The force involved and the uh... the directions that I need to push in to make it move. I don't really know how I fix things other than just thinking about wanting them to go back to the way they were. Does... does that make sense?"

Lup grinned wide, ears flipping up in excitement, and she squeezed his hands. " _Good_ , that's like half of it right there! It's...you're just pushing that force out of _you_. If you know how to push it out, you just gotta follow it back to where it comes from."

 

Barry nodded slowly and looked around for something that was smallish. He spotted a mug left on the counter from morning and tried to focus on it. Exhaling, he tried to focus the same way he did when he was a ghost and trying to move things. The mug rose into the air and Barry started to look excited. Then he lost control and the mug shot across the room, shattering against the wall.   
  
"SHIT!"

Lup wrinkled her nose at the mug, she had _liked_ that mug......   
  
"Think you can do the thing where you fix it?"

"Maybe?"  
  
He cringed, looking at the pieces and turned, holding out a hand towards it. He'd always done that as a ghost when things broke and he needed to fix them. Closing his eyes, he focused on the mug as it had been, trying to remember exactly what it looked like. Slowly, the pieces pulled themselves back together and the mug spun backwards through the air to settle back on the counter.

 

Lup squeaked and hugged him as soon as the mug settled down, "You _did_ it!"   
Kissing his cheek, she sat back, squeezing his hands, "Okay, the magic isn't settled back under your skin yet, follow the....the _pressure_ of it back to where it comes from."

  
She let go of one of his hands and puts a hand at her sternum, "Mine's here, it, uh, it moves to my hands, Taako says he feels it in his stomach. Lucretia’s always looks like it gathers around her eyes, she can terrify a person with a _glance_ -"

 

Barry closed his eyes again and found that now that he'd used it consciously, he could feel the power that was fizzing under his skin a lot better. It seemed to vibrate through all of him, swirling where his veins had once been.  
  
"It feels like... all of me? Like I'm... like I'm made of it. Does that make any sense, Lup? I'm like... flailing in the dark here."

 

Lup brightened, "No yeah, that's good, that makes sense....I mean, the harness is like...like forcing it into a shape for you....hmmmm...."  
She tapped a fingernail against her teeth, " Can you.....can you pull it...in? Like....stop it sloughing off you? Make yourself more solid?"

 

He nodded a little and closed his eyes, trying to focus himself. Being able to feel the power helped a lot and he started shaping it. More solid wasn't a thing. He was already pretty damn solid. But he could pull in the lines of power. The witch light blinked out and the power settled.... well, _mostly_ under his skin. He certainly wasn't going to get it entirely right the first time.   
  
After a moment, he opened his eyes, looking smug. "Got it."

Lup shivered as the feeling of power buzzing over her skin pulled away, crawling down her arms until she could only feel it in the fingers wrapped around Barry's hand, "Holy _shit_ , babe...."   
  
Leaning forward, she pushed her awareness towards him, feeling along the lines she had been tugging at...they were pulled in tight, obviously preferring their current shape. Curiously, she reached out and tried to tug away a small stream to funnel back into the wards.

It went without much effort, almost like his power was used to be tugged at by an outside source. Even now with it more consciously under his control, he didn't seem to notice what she was doing.  
  
"So... I think we're gonna be late, babe."

Lup frowned, pushing the stream back into place, the wards didn't need anymore strain anyway.  
  
"Yeah, shit, what time-" she glanced at the clock which was cheerfully showing 7:15, " _Fuck_ , okay."   
  
Standing up, she grabbed her bag and tugged Barry up and into a kiss, "Homework for the drive over, babe, play  with holding that in tight, yeah? You should, uh, you should _know_ what's happening with it."

Barry returned the kiss and then headed towards the door. "I'll see what I can do. It's... it still feels a little weird, but I think I'm getting a handle on it."

"Yeah, you kinda went from zero to sixty there, babe." Lup drops a kiss on his neck before turning to lock the door, "Pretty hot, not even gonna lie."  
  
Taking his hand as they walked to her car, Lup let her own magic drift to right under her skin, and pushed it to her fingertips. It didn't flow with the sense of having an oceanic source behind it, but she tested at Barry's fingers, wondering if he'd catch the differences in energies. He didn't seem to notice that either. It was almost like he'd been around so much magic that he was desensitized to it somehow, like he was used to having someone else drawing on his power or someone else's power working against his skin.   
  
"I bet Noelle forgives us being late, though, this is more stuff for her to play with, honestly." she giggled, "And _boy_ , Davenport's going to offer you a job on the spot."

  
"Fuck, I hope she doesn't want to do more experiments. I mean, don't get me wrong, totally... totally down for science. But I can only guinea pig so much in one day." He smiled at the little giggle. He really did love her laugh. It made him feel all light and warm inside, especially when he was the cause. "That would... that'd be something. Think he'd let us keep working together?"

 

Lup shoved away the disappointment and worry, pulling her power back under her skin as she got into the car; it was his first time using it, that...could be _fixed_ ,   
"If we can, mmmmmmhn, prove we don't get _distracted_ probably."   
  
She flashed him a smile, and pulled out of the parking space.   


 

\----

  
It was closer to 7:45 when they pulled up, and Lup knocked on the door while scrolling through Magnus's reply ( _Holy SHIT LUP SHE'S SO COOL AND STRONG AND BEAUTIFUL AND SHE PUNCHED A GHOST AND THEN SHE BEAT ME AT ARM WRESTLING_ ) and turned when Noelle threw the door open, looking them over.

"You're late." Her tone was flat.

Lup was already pulling out her excuses, "Okay, _I KNOW_ , but charging the harness meant we found out more about Barry's ghost powers, and I'm gonna write it down, so it counts as science, hey did Julia text back?"

Noelle- adjusted the goggles she was wearing and looked back and forth between them for a long moment.   
  
"Noelle, who's at the door?" Killian shouted from the kitchen.   
  
"Come on in. We're ready. And yeah, Jules finally got back to me. She and Magnus are on their way over. Apparently that's the new state of affairs. But I got a whole status read out on how the harness worked, so whatever. Win win all the way around."

 

Lup grinned as she kept scrolling through the paragraphs of Magnus waxing poetic about Julia Waxman, "Yeah, the harness, uh, harness is very well designed vis a vie, not getting in the way, honestly."

  
Noelle gave Lup a thumbs up. "Remind me to show you how to send the data readouts. And I can get you an upgraded unit in like... three weeks? Waterproof, longer charge, slimmer design. The works."

  
Lup smiled wider at Noelle, "You're a doll, I will do that." Her ear flicked towards the kitchen, and she leaned in through the door, "Hey, Killian, how do you guys categorize ghosts who were magic users?"

  
"Never met one." Killian stood at the counter with a microwaved breakfast burrito in hand. "Any particular reason why?"

 

Lup jerked a thumb at Barry, "The dude was one, and currently still is. Not uncommon in humans, honestly, if you find a work you like, it just comes out in making you better at shit. Now he's just- just like, _made_ of the stuff."

Killian sighed a little as Noelle looked like she was practically floating with excitement.   
“Plan. Timetable. Already late. You two, get moving. The rest of us will be in position soon.”

“Yes’m,” Lup turned and caught Barry’s hand to pull him back out the door again.

 

\-----

  
  
The drive to Barry’s house was mostly silent, Lup intent on keeping her cool, though occasionally she’d reach out and tug a strand of Barry’s power out of place and ask if he could feel it _this_ time. She missed the turn for the driveway while doing so, and grumbled until she found a spot to turn around.   
As she drove back, a thought hit her, and she bit her lip,   
  
“How do you feel about a walk, babe?”

Barry could feel the tension rising in the car and he was fidgeting uncomfortably by the time they missed the driveway. He really had been trying but nothing felt out of the ordinary, nothing felt strange, and that was all he had to go on at this point for really understanding the power flowing through him. So when she asked, he nodded, a little relieved.  
  
"Yeah... A walk feels good."

 

“Yeah.... yeah, I don’t- mmmph,” Lup pulled over to the side of the road, parking somewhat behind a tree, “I don’t like the idea of being seen, Y’know?”   
  
Grabbing her charm bag, she ducked out the door and stretched, lighting a nervous brief flicker of fire out of her fingers to release _something_.

That made a lot of sense, all things considered. Barry stretched as he stepped out of the car ( "You know, I was sort of hoping maybe being dead would make the uh... the back problems go away but here we are, I guess." ) and then he looked up towards the house.  
  
"They have to know something is up. If the... the parasite is around still, it knows I'm not there." Then he adjusted his glasses. "But I guess they wouldn't think we have a reason to come back here..."

Lup reached out and hooked her fingers through his, sending another bit of nervous energy up his arm, just to test how their power mixed.   
“Yeah, well, all your _stuff_ is in there. Plus the generator, and my books, so-“ she shrugged, “they’ll know when we get in, but I like this car. Don’t want ‘em figuring someway to ruin the paint job.”

Barry squeezed her hand gently, trying to reassure. He was starting to feel a tingle of _something_ that wasn't him, something warm and comforting that felt right and mixed with the electricity that made him comfortably.   
  
"It's gonna be alright, Lup. We've got this. I... I know we got this." He turned and kissed her cheek. "By the way, I feel that. What you're doing. It's... it feels nice."

Lup’s ears flicked up again and she gave him an excited look, “Yeah? _Good_ , I’m glad.”   
  
  
It was about a ten minute walk, the woods around them were fully awake and noisy, and the driveway seemed a lot longer and twistier than Lup recalled.   
  
The house sat, dark and brooding, with no welcoming presence inside. Lup’s ears flattened at the sight, chewing at her lip and glancing around.

Shadows seemed to move behind the windows and the house practically loomed over them, like it was leaning forward and threatening to swallow them. Barry gulped as the door swung open. "I don't think I did that..."

“Nope,” Lup resettled her pack on her shoulder, took a firmer grip of Barry’s hand, and held out her free hand, a flame snapping up and dancing in her palm, “Let’s get this party started then.”   
  
Walking over the threshold held the place for second hardest thing she’d ever done; the malice that rolled out of the door was just as bad at the basement and more... _angry_ .   
  
But _this_ time... this time she had more than stubborn anger to sustain her.   
  
Lup had a future to protect.


	16. Chapter 16

The spells in the basement had been refreshed. That much was clear just by stepping into the living room. The house reeked of blood and dark magic. Barry stepped inside, staying close to Lup and holding her hand just as tightly. Then he wavered for a moment and closed his eyes. He could feel it now, the power in the basement and the _thing,_ the Parasite. It was here and it knew he was here and-   
  
"Lup! Watch out!"

Lup’s fire light flared as she left it hanging in the air and ducked to the side, automatically pulling Barry with her. Rolling to her feet, she held out her hand, fire springing to her palm again,   
  
“Knock- _knock_ , asshole, exterminators are here!”

The Parasite hissed manifesting in the air where Lup had just been. It was even more cracked through with colors now, seeming to flicker and jump like it was unstuck in time and space. It was the essence of wrongness, hanging there in the air.  
  
**"We will see who is exterminated."** ****  
  
Barry had somehow managed to anticipate Lup's maneuver and had got to his feet, which was good since it meant he had his eyes on the Parasite as it circled them, looking for a weakness.

Lup eyed it, letting go of Barry’s hand to reach into her bag, “Hey babe? You know the thing I did with the wards this morning? Is it cool if I keep doing that?”

"Absolutely, babe."  
  
Pulling out a small glass globe, she ran her thumb over the rune etched into it and it started shining a bright, pure, white light.   
  
Barry was keeping his eyes on the Parasite, focused on making sure it couldn't ambush them. He could feel it now, knew what it was thinking before it did. Which, honestly wasn't a pleasant feeling, but he was going to use it for now. Focusing a little, he tried to grab some of that squirming, swirling, fizzing power inside it to toss it to Lup. He wasn't sure if he could, but he would try.

The twisting rope of power caught Lup a little off guard, it felt...like Barry but _off_ , slightly to the left, inverted.   
She didn’t like what that might mean, but it was a Later problem.   
Grabbing it in a mental thumb and forefinger, Lup twisted the power into a streamer of fire and pushed it _back_ at the parasite.

The power wasn't entirely pleasant to use. It was like Barry’s but filtered through something that was so very anathema to _him_ that it was wrong. Even so, it still worked for her just the same as everything else. The Parasite chose the wrong time to surge forward, thinking the strange tugging was a weakness, thinking the momentary pause of conversation was the opening it needed to lash out at their intertwined hands and separate them. Instead, it took a raw blast of flames to the center of its mass and screeched horribly.

Lup bared her teeth in a feral smile, and darted to the other side of the living room, where the light from her globe started to fade. Pulling out another one, she lit it and set it down, covering more than half the room in a steady pure light.   
No shadows for the fucker to hide in.   
  
Glancing into the kitchen, she grimaced; the salt was gone in her line of sight, and probably everywhere else too. Well, couldn't be helped.

In a sudden moment of brilliance, Barry ran for the closet door. It wouldn't be as good at Lup's magic lights, sure, but he _should_ have a high power mag light in there. With any luck that would at least piss the thing off. Turning, he silently prayed that the batteries were still good. He had to click the button a few times but then it burst on in all its military surplus glory.   
  
The Parasite hissed, pulling into itself and swirling, eyes were forming all over it as it searched for a shadow, for anything it could dive into. But there was nothing. There were no shadows, no little pockets of darkness left.   
  
"I hope you have a plan!"   
  
Barry yelled it, keeping the flashlight trained on the Parasite as it shrieked.

"Just the one!" Lup yelled back, placing one more globe down and lighting it, formed a triangle of light with the Parasite in the middle.   
Reaching in and out, she pushed a line of her power along the lines connecting the globes, the light _flexed_ and domed over to form shimmering walls of light. Tugging a stream of power from Barry, she fed it into the triangle, twisting their magic together like a rope, and the walls brightened into opacity.

Barry's eyes widened and he snapped the line of power he was drawing off the Parasite, leaving it no routes out of the light.   
"Looks like a real good plan to me, babe. Great plan. Best plan ever."   
  
The Parasite was keening, an awful high pitched noise as it twisted and writhed, separating into thousands of white strands that whipped and strained and bent. And then, it exploded.

For a moment, there was just the sound of Lup's panting and the faint, back of the neck hum of the magic dome, before Lup slowly raised both her fists.  
  
"Da da da _da_ da, da _da_ tada!"

Barry was slammed backwards as the magic that had been stolen from him surged back into place and he was knocked clear off his feet. He skidded across the floor and took a few deep breaths, trying to get his wind back. But he laughed as he looked up at her.   
  
"We won!" Then he blinked. "Was... was that a reference?"

Lup giggled, relief making her giddy and lightheaded, "Oh _babe_ , if you thought catching up on movies was gonna be bad, wait till we show you _video games_ ...."   
  
She walked a circuit around the globes, peering in from all angles, not wanting to dismantle it if there was the _slightest_ chance. "How's the house feel to you now?"

"What _exactly_ is a video game?" Barry pulled himself to his feet, leaning against the wall as he closed his eyes. "Still... still real bad. Like... I don't think there's another one, but there's something else and it's bad? And..." For just a moment, he thought his hand sunk slightly into the wall before bouncing back to where it should be. Barry adjusted his glasses and muttered something under his breath about the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle not working like that before he looked around again. "I don't feel... great? Like... dizzy? Maybe a little... lightheaded?"

Lup's ears stood straight up, and she pulled their power out of the globes, untwisting carefully as she replaced the strand of Barry's power. She could feel her own magic leaving hooks in him, and knew it would be easier next time to draw on.  
  
The thought was not a very good one.   
  
"Yeah, ok, basement again? Hold on, lemme check your battery."

"It's gotta be, right? I mean, unless they got creative and left something upstairs."  
  
He winced a little and stood straighter. Then he pulled his shirt up so she could check the little status readouts on the underside of the powerpack. The battery was green across the board but a status light was periodically blinking orange worryingly. That one wasn't entirely clear what it meant since it was only labeled with a ghost icon.   
  
"Which is actually a thing they might do, now that I think about it." He glanced towards the stairs. "Upstairs first and then down?"

Lup frowned and tapped the status light, "Thanks, Noelle," she grumbled, and shook herself. Backup would be....coming. Soon. At some point. All that mattered now was clearing out what they could, being good bait, and staying.....alive.   
  
"Yeah, might as well. Don't want anything nasty at our backs."   
  
Taking Barry's hand again, she headed for the stairs, glancing over the picture frames, now loaded with more context and memory.

Barry ignored the pictures now. Most of them didn't matter. Most of them would be going in the trash soon. Alright, ignored was the wrong word. He very pointedly did _not_ look at them. That was like ignoring but with intent.   
  
"I'll check my room. You wanna check the craft room?" He pointed down towards the room Lup hadn't been in yet, the only place in the whole house she hadn't seen.

Lup barely hesitated, the idea of letting his hand go causing a mutiny in her stomach, but she overruled it, "Sure thing, babe."  
  
She just had to concentrate and she could feel the bits of her power that were twisted up in his, could feel a line stretching between them that all she had to do was pull on. It would have to do to soothe that anxiety for the moment.   
  
Walking down the hall, she allowed herself to look everything over, put a sheen of imagination over the dust and dark unwelcoming. _Those_ windows would be clean and catch the sunlight just so, there was a closet outside the bathroom door for linens, you could see down into the living room from the landing.   
If it were clean, if the wood was newly polished, if there were plants hanging in the window boxes, if, if if.....   
  
The craft room was at the opposite side from Barry's bedroom, and she pushed the door open uneasily, other hand held palm up in case she needed fire.

Inside the craft room was a bit of a mess. Barry hadn't touched it since that night so long ago. There was a bottle of paint sitting open, long since dried. A half done model of an airplane sat on the desk next to a little tube of glue and some small brushes. Around the room were shelves with unopened boxes and several completed models. Cars, planes, a few boats, and even a lovingly constructed Gemini rocket, much smaller than the Saturn V in his bedroom.  
  
There were thin wisps of magic here, old and faded, but nothing new. Just the signs of someone with power they weren't using, and someone else who was.   
  
Barry walked back from his room and shook his head. "Nothing in there. How's everything else look, babe?"

Lup was walking around the shelves when Barry came in, reaching out a hand to touch the faded paint of a 1959 Cadillac deVille convertible where she could see brush strokes.   
"I think we're good here, nothing's been moved."   
  
She backed up and glanced around the room again, "I like it in here, s'good place, Bear."   
Rather than disturb anything else, she reached for his hand again and focused on the stairs, "Time to clean out the basement _again_."

"You know," he took her hand, walking back down to the living room. "I'm really thinking we should like... finish the basement? Do the whole thing over. Maybe... maybe turn it into a rec room or something. Just no more uh... no more concrete floor."

"For sure, we're gonna need a guest bedroom anyway, don't wanna mess up the craft room.”  
  
He nodded as he opened the door to the basement and froze. There was a line of salt across the threshold now and even with the harness, he flickered dangerously when he tried to approach it.

Lup stopped, ears flattening against her skull as Barry's hand flickered in hers. "Babe, your ex is an _asshole_ and I'm gonna break his jaw."   
  
Scuffing at the line of salt furiously, Lup brought out her light globe again and activated it. The clear light poured into the basement, pushing back at the thick shadows that crouched there.

"Cool, cool, I'm... I'm into that. Definitely... definitely into that."  
  
When she had the line of salt gone, he could follow her into the basement. It was as dark as it had been before, with spell circles once again inscribed on the floor in blood that felt distinctly _Barry._ He looked uncomfortable as he lingered on the last step.   
  
"So... uh... I don't... I don't like that."

"NoPE!" Lup set the globe on the ground and edged around the spell circle to set another one so that she could see the whole basement, "And I didn't bring any bleach, fuck."  
  
Chewing her lip, she paced around it, thinking, prodding at the edges gently to get a sense of their shape. When she found the place the formulae began and ended, she walked it again, frown line between her eyes growing deeper as she muttered the meanings to herself.   
  
"Hey Bear? How's your magic feelin?"

"Not... uh... not great, if I'm gonna be real honest? I felt a little better at the top of the stairs but not I sorta... I really don't feel... great." He flickered again and closed his eyes tightly, trying to pull himself back to solid.   
  
That was when they heard the thud-thud of two car doors closing.

" **Fuck!** " Lup darted for the stairs, grabbing Barry's hand, " _SHit_ , okay, that's going to take too long to undo and I _don't_ want them locking us in here-"   
  
She pulled him up the stairs, heart pounding in her ears, clutching her charm bag, and suddenly feeling like she _really_ should have texted Taako before they walked into the house....

A cherry red 57 Chevy Bel Air with white side paneling and pristine white wall tires was parked out front and two Elves stood out front. One was in black jeans with a dark grey shirt that hugged his form and hinted at the shape of lithe muscles underneath. Over that, he wore a blazer left open. His hair was recently trimmed and meticulously styled in a wavy undercut. His sister took off her oversized sunglasses to look up at the house with distaste. She was wearing a flirty cocktail dress in a deep burgundy with a thick black belt tight around her waist and heels in the same black. Her long, wavy hair had been pulled up into a complex updo that was being held in place with a mix of bobby pins and magic, along with the pearl studded comb tucked into it. Her makeup was flawless even as she checked her reflection in the back of her phone.  
  
"Honestly, Edward, you really think they're back? This is the _third_ time you've dragged me out here. I didn't like your useless boyfriend fifty years ago and I don't like him anymore now."   
  
"I just want my power source back, Lili, that's all. As soon as we deal with the interloper, everything goes back to normal."

Lup edged up to the window, moving slowly and trying not to push the curtains and draw their attention to the movement. Her ears twitched frantically, trying to catch whatever they were saying. The woman's voice was high enough to parse most of it, but _Edward's-_   
  
Lup stared at him, rage coiling in her gut. She caught the phrase 'power source' and looked back at Barry, horror dawning on her face.   
NO _wonder_ he never realized when she pulled power off him.   
  
Pulling out her phone, she shot a text to Killian:   
  
_Hey so, bait is taken, whens that trap going to be sprung? cause I suddenly have a bad feeling about this_   
  
Hitting send, she opened her messages with Taako:   
  
_Hey buttmunch love you also I might need you to come save my ass XOXOXO_

Barry was looking out the window, having gone pale. He had thought he would be alright facing Edward again. He had thought he wouldn't panic, that he wouldn't be torn between the past and the present and that night. And yet, here he was. He was practically shaking.   
  
Edward raised a hand, a considering look on his face. Barry tensed and pulled away from the window.   
  
"Someone crossed the wards. Two someones, actually. And I can feel him. Come on, Lili. I do hope you're ready for a fight."   
  
She smiled slowly and reached for a curved wand she had in her handbag.   
  
"I'm looking forward to it, Eddie. I haven't had a real challenge in... decades."   
  
The response came from Killian almost immediately.   
_We're up the road._   
  
And then from Taako.   
_Almost there. Just try not to beef it before I can get there. I'm not about having my brother-in-law AND my sister be ghosts, you got me?_

Lup smiled down at her phone and shoved it in her back pocket, "Right. Fuck this."  
  
Holding out her palm, she summoned a ball of fire, pushing it denser and denser until it burned _blue_ , stepped to the front door, knocking it aside and throwing the fireball at their feet in one motion,   
  
" **GET OFF OUR LAWN!** "

The fireball caught them both off guard and Lydia screamed as it caught her. Edward tried to throw up a shield in front of them and just barely mistimed it. When the flames cleared, their clothes were streaked with burns and they both looked furious. Lydia snarled and blindly flung a burst of necrotic magic at Lup.   
  
Edward stood his ground, staying behind his shield as he shaped a spell. Then he looked up and caught his sister's eye before running around the side of the house. He was headed for the backyard, for the kitchen door. Barry started to move that way when Edward tugged again and Barry _screamed._ This time, there was no mistaking the feeling of raw magical power being pulled out of him.

Lup was slightly too slow and the necrotic energy caught her arm, spreading ugly sticking stinging vines of pain down her side. She fell behind the wall with a yelp of pain, hissing as she dug through her bag for a numbing charm.   
She had just grabbed it when she heard Barry’s scream and dropped it again, yelling in _fury_ .   
  
“ _MOTHERFUCKER, I’M COMING FOR YOU!_ ”   
  
Charm, hand, arm, _blessed_ numb, bag, shoulder, and spinning around to launch a rope of wind towards Lydia as she came up the porch stairs. Keep them _out-_

Lydia dodged past the attack with a laugh. It didn't even ruffle her hair. She stepped inside the door and pointed her wand down at Lup.  
  
"What is this, amateur hour?" She sniffed. "Well, no matter. I'm sure my darling brother has already made it downstairs and gotten his spells back under control. Which leaves me to handle _you."_   
  
"Abraca-fuck you, bitch!" And then a magic missile slammed into her from the end of the driveway, knocking her sideways. "Don't you _fucking_ touch my sister!"   
  
The kitchen door banged opened as Edward ran through. He was planning on heading towards the basement, but he had heard Lydia yell and changed course. He had to help her.

Lup scrambled to her feet, all teeth showing in her smile, “Nice _fuckin_ save, ‘Ko,” she spun to meet Taako as he ran into the living room, pressing her palms together for another fireball, “Hey help me with this, wouldja?”   
  
He matched her evil grin, pointing his wand out for another magic missile, “sun-dried dipshit?”   
  
“ _Oh_ **_yeah_**.”  
  
They fired simultaneously, at a range from which there was no dodging.

Lydia _screamed_ as she fell back. She was still alive, but badly injured with burns on her arms and hands from where she had tried to block it. Edward snarled and raised his hand, starting to point it towards Taako. Then Lup. Then back to Taako. Then a slowly smile crossed his face. He twisted a hand behind his back and Barry made a choked noise just before his harness started beeping erratically. He was flickering in and out as he tried to grab onto the door frame to keep himself up right.   
  
"Stop _right now_ or I swear, I will rip him to pieces." Edward's voice was a low growl of fury as he imposed himself between Lydia and Taako and Lup. "I can do it without so much as a _thought."_

Lup snarled wordless rage back at him, and Taako’s wand didn’t waver from where it was pointed at Edward, even as he grabbed her arm and gave it a warning squeeze.   
  
“Bad plan, like, _super bad_ , that ‘not thinking’ shit,” Taako’s voice was steady, but climbed several octaves, “still have to deal with us _after_ -“   
  
Lup’s eyes flicked to Barry, blood pounding in her ears, torn between the fierce desire to run to him and help him stand and the equally fierce _need_ to run at Edward and tear his throat out.   
  
Pushing back the white edged anger blurring her vision, mind only just barely paying attention to Taako’s fast talking, she reached down her tethers in Barry’s power, feeling along to see if she could find where it was going _wrong_.

Barry's world was fading in and out of darkness and pain. It was like there were fish hooks in his flesh, tearing through him inch by inexorable, excruciating inch. And then he felt a something else, something warm and soft and good and right and... and decidedly _Lup._ He reached for that, stretching his fledgling power to grab hold with everything he was worth. And then he felt something else.   
  
Edward's handsome face was twisted into a mask of hatred and he slowly pointed at Lup, a miasma of black smog forming around his outstretched hand.   
"You're right. I don't want to get rid of my pet with you two still here, now do I? But you've gone and corrupted him, turned him against me. Isn't that right, _darling?"_   
  
Barry Bluejeans had never been trained to use his magic. That was a fact. But are some things in this universe that are innate, are an inherent facet of life, of being, of freewill. There are some things that never need to be taught. Freedom, truth, love. And in that moment, Barry Bluejeans found the hooks that Edward had laid in him so long ago, the tethers that were feeding his magic through the ritual circle in the basement and rapidly destabilizing him. He grabbed those tethers and he pulled with all his might.   
  
Snapping back into a physical form, Barry dove at Edward, knocking him to the ground. The spell Edward had been channeling destabilized, shooting in every direction.

Lup felt it when Barry took hold of her power, a drowning man reaching out of an ocean to grab for his life, and she poured strength back; not a spell, there’s no structure for it, just pure magic and stubborn will power, an exchange for everything she’s taken from him that day repaid gladly.   
  
She _felt_ him yanking Edward’s hooks out of himself like it’s her own flesh, and she yelled, rage pain fear **triumph** as she shoved Taako down and to the side, the backlash of Edward’s magic flying over them.   
  
The moment Lup sensed that the wave of it was over and past them, she was on her feet and running back at the three figures on the floor,   
  
“Fuck him _up_ , babe!”

Barry was seething with a rage that wasn't entirely his own, that was tied up in the power that had just surged back into him. He raised his fist and brought it back down, punching Edward squarely in the face. And then he did it again. And then again. He was shaking with the rage that was building in him and Edward wasn't moving after the first punch but Barry kept going.

The first punch soothed something in Lup’s soul, and the second one made her _fiercely_ glad; but the look on Barry’s face as he raised his fist to come crashing down _again and again_ feet like ice water on her rage, and she darted in to grab his arm before he could land another blow,   
  
“Hey, _hey!_ Babe, it’s over, we’ve won, you got him, it’s okay, _its okay_ ...”   
  
Her ear twitched as a car door slams several times and the sound of feet running up the path comes through the open door.   
(“Holy _shit_ , what _burned_ this???”)   
  
“New life, remember? Probably don’t want murder charges on top of figuring _that_ out....”   
Murmuring and tugging by turns, she slowly pulled him to a standing position.

Barry turned, still shaking and breathing hard. There was still something a little wild in his eyes and then he hugged her tightly, burying his face against her shoulder.   
"I... I could feel was he was doing. The magic... and... and... Lup, he was going to use _my_ magic to kill you and Taako."   
  
Noelle walked through the door and looked down at the very unconscious and bloody Edward and the sobbing Lydia and raised an eyebrow. "These are the terrifying necromancers? They look like fashion week rejects."

Lup held Barry close and made soothing noises, face pressed into his hair, as Taako stood up and popped his back, lazily twirling his wand,   
  
“Well we beat them for you first, _natch_ , they did look a _bit_ scarier back when they were doing the thing with the evil fire and whatnot,”   
He shot Lup a questioning look, and she glanced up long enough to twitch an ear towards the kitchen,   
  
“They reset the spell up in the basement, it’s gonna need some _heavy_ cleaning.”

Barry winced a little. "I... I think I might still be tied into it? I didn't exactly uh... I tried to rip it out when I realized what was happening but it wasn't what I would call _neat."_   
  
Noelle grimaced. "Magic bullshit. Yeah, I can bleach the floor, but you lot are gonna have to do the actual magic fixy bits to unhook him." Then she held up a device that looked like a large and somewhat angry bubble wand, like a bubble wand the size of a butterfly net. "Are we still de-souling them? Because I am _so_ down. I've got a little containment device for each of them and everything."   
  
Carey was looking around the house, a portable scanner in her hands. "Well, the good news is that that spell is the only thing you've got going on now. Aside from Barry." The device beeped. "Aaaand Julia who just got here. No more spooky roommate. Nothing else lurking in anybody. Just two beat to shit necromancers. Just how I like it."   
  
Lydia gritted her teeth, moving closer to Edward. "We... We would've..."   
  
Killian very slowly raised a device that looked an awful lot like a taser to point it solidly at Lydia's chest. "Gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids. Yeah, I know, old man Jenkins, I know."

Lup kissed Barry’s forehead and stepped away slowly, still hanging onto his hand, as she stared Lydia down, teeth bared in a “smile”,   
  
“I mean, I’m _so_ down with scientifically splitting their souls from their bodies while we go in and pick out _his_ -“ a light kick to Edward’s rib, “-rotted corruption....”   
  
Taako gave a long sigh and pulled his phone out and sending a text, “Yeeeeaaaaahhhh, but maybe.... we don’t.... do that....”   
  
He looked at Noelle, “Sorry for giving you a baller idea and then not letting you test it this time, buuuuut maybe better to do that when ch’boy’s not around....”

Noelle sighed a little. "Spoilsport. Well, I'll go put the fun toys away and grab the clean up kit."  
  
Killian moved closer to Lydia, bearing her teeth in a not at all friendly smile. "Come on, let's get you and your brother somewhere where I can keep an eye on you." She grabbed Lydia, hauling her to her feet, and Carey moved in to grab Edward. A moment later, Barry seemed to snap out of the haze he'd momentarily been in and moved towards Carey.   
  
"Wait a second, I just need to..." He reached into the pocket of Edward's blazer and pulled out a set of keys. Examining them for a second, he pulled two of them off the keyring and shoved it back into Edward's pocket. Then he looked up and smiled. "House and car." He gestured towards the chevy still parked out front. "That's _mine."_

“Jesus _shitting_ christ, wait, I changed my mind, babe, Carey, let go of him, I’m burning this fucker-“   
Taako looped his arm through hers and tugged Lup back, still texting,   
  
“Hey Barold, help me sit her down so we can clear you up.”   


* * *

  
Clean up is _always_ longer and more effort than the fight it takes to get there, and this is exacerbated by everyone being fucking tired on top of it.   
Taako summoned out of what seemed thin air Kravitz, a tall, black half-elf with a tendency towards fancy suits and a long-suffering look on his face. Lydia and Edward were pushed into black vans with runes edged in the doors, and the rest of them were brought to a nondescript building on the edge of town, given coffee, and asked to  describe everything that had happened _in detail_ .   
  
Julia and Barry were looked at with unease and Noelle was given a firm lecture on having respect for the veil between life and death (which she ignored)   
But at the end of it, no one seemed really inclined to charge them with anything, and Kravitz pulled them into an office and brought out the folder that was Barry’s murder file.   
  
“How do you feel about being your own next of kin?”

 


	17. Epilogue: Happy Candlenights!

Barry stood straight, hands on his lower back as he tried to stretch past a kink there. Then he reached to pick up another box of things from the floor of the attic. The stairs bounced a bit as he walked down and then he reached to pull them back up into the ceiling.    
  
"Babe, I think I found the last of the Candlenights stuff. If I'm right, this one's got Mom's old ornaments. Where do you want me to put them?"   
  
He ignored the fact that he'd said the same thing about the last three boxes. So Marlena Bluejeans had had a lot of Candlenights stuff and he hadn't looked at it in fifty years. That was in no way his fault.

Lup didn’t look up from the pie crust she was crimping, though her ear twitched in his direction,    
  
“Put ‘em on the staircase garland if the bush is full, just make sure none of the breakable ones are within Tess height.”    
  
Tessaralia, a skinny tortoiseshell cat, looked up from her angle on a kitchen stool claimed forever as hers and miaowed at the sound of her name, claiming she had never been fed in her life and was starving forever.    
  
“Shut up, Tess,” Lup murmured as she poured a mix of spiced apples and walnuts into the pie crust.    
  
“Hey, do we know if Maureen is stopping by, and if she’s bringing her son? Cause I’m gonna need you to run interference with Magnus if he comes.”

Barry snorted and set the box down on the table before going to kiss her cheek.    
  
"I'll do my best, but I'm about half convinced our cat can fly." He reached for the little bag of cat treats on the counter and held one out. She took it and jumped off the stool to go enjoy her treat. "Maureen's definitely coming by... She said something about having dug up a big surprise for you? And yeah..." His tone turned annoyed. "She's bringing Lucas. I'll make sure that he and Magnus don't end up in the same room. Or he and Julia for that matter. I'd worry more about her, honestly. Magnus at least has the uh... the good grace to not punch the kid in front of his mom."   
  
Moving to the table, he popped the dusty old box open and started pulling ornaments out. Then he made an excited noise.   
  
"I told you I'd find the pie plate if I kept looking!"

“Fuck  _ yes _ , son, wash that shit out, I’m doing the pumpkin next,” Lup finished placing the top crust on and slid it into the oven. She walked over to the table, returning Barry’s kiss and wrapping her arms around his waist as she looked in the box.    
  
“Awwww, are those baby Barry ornaments? We’re putting those on the wall, I want them up  _ all year _ .”    
  
A timer went off and Lup reluctantly pulled away with another kiss to look after something on the stove.

"All year? Like  _ all _ year, babe?"

“ _ Fuck _ yes. Look at them; they’re  _ adorable _ .”    
  
Barry was already carefully unpacking those ornaments to start hanging them up. He also found a preserved sprig of mistletoe and grinned. Tucking that off to the side, he went to hang a few ornaments out on the bannister garland. That done (and Tess appeased with one of her catnip mice), Barry returned to the kitchen and scooped the bit of mistletoe up, holding it up.   
  
"Hey Lup, you'll never guess what else was in there."   
  
Lup was pulling pots off burners and pouring into dishes and on platters as Barry came back in; when she glanced at him a wide smile split her face.    
  
“Oh  _ noooooo _ , now it’s Candlenights  _ law _ ,” she set down the bowl she was holding onto a keep-warm charm and wandered over to drape her arms over Barry’s shoulders,    
  
“Gotta kiss you the whole time you’re holding that, pretty sure that’s how this works~”

Barry wrapped his arms around her waist.   
  
“Maybe I just wont put it down ever. What’re you gonna do then?” He kissed her, long and sweet, “Although, I suppose that’s not the  _ most _ conducive to having dinner with the family...”

Lup hummed thoughtfully into Barry’s mouth, one hand slipping down to palm his ass, before pulling back regretfully,    
  
“Guess I’ll have to postpone and make up what’s owed later,” she leaned back in for a quick bite at his lower lip before turning back to the stove,    
  
“Hey, put that up in the little alcove by the stairs, if Taako’s gonna drunkenly make out with Krav later, we should contain it.”

Barry snorted and went to drop the mistletoe there.   
  
“Are you implying Taako can be contained? Let alone drunk Taako?”

“ _ Listen _ ...A girl can dream...”   
  
In the living room, he took a few minutes to turn on his old record player and start an album. It was an old one he was fond of, a little Ella Fitzgerald for the holidays. Lights flickered across the back wall and he looked out the window. He would recognize that pickup truck anywhere.   
  
“Looks like Magnus and Julia are here, Lup. Ready to descend into chaos?”   
  
Lup cleared the box of Candlenights things off the table (a large carved oak thing, a house warming present from Magnus) threw a colorfully patterned tablecloth over it, and started putting all the food dishes on it.    
  
“Hell yeah, let ‘em in. -Wait, let me grab Tess, I know they’re bringing the dogs...”

"Taking bets on how long it takes for Tess to trap Johann this time?"   
  
Barry went to open the door with a cheerful "Happy Candlenights!" and it ended up taking a bit longer than planned as Julia and Magnus wrangled dogs into the house and then Taako and Kravitz pulled up. Merle and Davenport arrived only a minute later, with Mookie charging right up the driveway and into the house yelling "Presents!" at the top of his lungs while Mavis and the two adults followed at a more leisurely pace.   
  
When Barry finally managed to extract himself from greetings and helping Magnus get the dogs into the basement where they'd be warm and out of the way, he went to go find Lup again. He leaned against her, a smile on his face.    
  
"Taako brought wine for dinner that is, and I quote, 'a little something he picked up on his trip with Krav.' So, I uh... I would be expecting drunk Taako antics, babe."

“Make him wait until Luce shows up and at least he’ll be splitting it somewhat,”    
  
Lup wrapped an arm around Barry and kissed his cheek because she could, because he was there, solid, smiling, and happy.    
There was a knock at the door again, and Lup pulled her apron off to get it, hollering for Taako to “watch my spiced cider, Munch, it’s almost perfect!” before going to open the door, where she was greeted by said Lucretia,    
  
“Lu! You made it!”    
Looking past her, Lup grinned at Maureen, eyes flicking curiously to the bag she held, “Happy Candlenights!”   
  
They came in returning greetings, followed by Lucas, who was somewhat nervous and slump shouldered, once he saw Julia and Magnus in the kitchen, but Lup escorted them grandly to the couches in front of the Candlenights bush and pointed out the buffet table.    
  
Once there were food and drinks and conversations started, Lup leaned over Maureen’s seat, ears pricked in curiosity,    
  
“Little bird told me you are full of surprises tonight?”

Maureen smiled at her and patted the spot on the couch next to her. When Lup sat, Maureen handed her the bag. It weighed a bit, like a fairly solid textbook.   
  
"I've been working on this for a bit. Called up a few of my friends and got them to send me what they had. I even managed to talk that brother of yours into helping me without spilling the beans." Inside the bag was a large, dark blue photo album. "I hope you like it."   
  
Barry had just set another plate of cookies on the table and turned around to see what Maureen and Lup were talking about.

Ears twitching, Lup opened the photo album, and nearly dropped it at once,    
  
“Oh shi-“    
  
Inside on the verso was a reprinted photo of herself and Taako, scrawny and young, looking at the camera with identical expressions of mischief. The recto had a picture of Barry, at the same stage in life, even if ages get tricky, beaming at the camera as he held a completed model plane.    
Turning the pages kept up the pattern, the pictures improving and getting more varied as time went on.    
  
Lup sticking her tongue out at the camera with an ice cream sundae in front of her, Barry looking awkward and gangly with a high school diploma, Barry in grad school with a textbook draped over his face, Lup wearing a handmade ‘queer as in fuck you’ shirt and flipping the camera off....   
  
Lup reached out to grab Barry’s hand and tug him next to her as she flipped through, stunned.    
  
“Holy fuck, babe look it-“   
  
The pictures continued, finally reaching the age of camera phones and both of them together, Barry looking blurred, but enough of them run through filters so that you could see his face; reprinted and many-   
  
Lup frowned suddenly, and flipped back through, running her fingers along the pictures of Barry before he was killed; Barry and Maureen, Barry in his lab coat and badge, Barry holding a handmade tribble with a sly smile and giving the camera a thumbs up-   
  
Lydia and Edward were nowhere to be found.

Barry sat next to Lup and stared at the pictures in awe and wonder. There were pictures he hadn't even known existed. Pictures of him trying to change tire and flipping off the photographer from a road trip, pictures of Lup and Taako at a concert for some band from the 80s, pictures from the day they'd moved into the house --So that was what Taako had been doing on his phone all day. He reached out to turn the page and stopped, realizing the same thing that Lup already had. Maureen had done the impossible.   
  
"This... this is amazing."   
  
He flipped back through it with a growing smile. Then he hit a section of blank pages and looked up at Maureen curiously. She smiled fondly at the pair of them.   
  
"I left the rest of it for you two to finish."

"I left the cider on low, Lup, it's ready for- Awww dunk you gave it to them without me!"   
Taako leaned over the couch, draping one arm over Lup's shoulder and resting his chin on her head. (The other hand held his second glass of wine) "Are you crying, Lulu?"   
  
"No," Lup said thickly through her hands. She sniffled and leaned into Taako's chest, "shuddafucup."   
  
Wiping her face, she looked at Maureen and managed a choked , "Thank you," and closed the photo album reverently to put aside for later.   
  
"Hey, does this mean presents now??" Mookie had appeared in front of the couches as if he'd been teleported. Lup sniffed again and nodded vigorously,   
  
"Hell yeah, little man, it is deffo time to open presents right now for sure."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lup and Barry will return in... Incorporeal Home Improvement. Coming soon to theaters near you.


End file.
